Maloney gets high praise from BMF

The Barbados Motoring Federation (BMF) has hailed 17-year-old Barbadian driver Zane Maloney’s victory in Sunday’s round of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine – certified by FIA supporting the Monaco Grand Prix.

Having finished second behind his French team-mate Isack Hadjar on Saturday, Maloney led a stunning podium lockout for R-ace GP outfit, with Hadjar second and fellow-countryman Hadrien David third.

BMF President Andrew Mallalieu said: “The eyes of the world focused on Monaco on GP race weekend and to see the Barbados flag and hear the National Anthem being played while the teams and volunteer officials stood in silent respect was the proudest moment for this little country so far in its quest to have a Barbadian World Champion.

“We wish him well for the entire championship and can dream of the potential for the future. All the members of the BMF are cheering Zane on and supporting in whatever way we can. We encourage broader Barbados and the Barbados Government to join us on this quest and throw the full weight of our island nation behind Zane.”

Maloney started racing at Bushy Park with the Barbados Karting Association (BKA), one of the BMF’s eight member clubs. An overall champion with five BKA class titles to his credit by the age of 10, he headed to Europe to further his career karting. He was fifth in the 2017 World OK-Junior Championship, then finished third in the 2018 German and fourth in the 2018 championships, before graduating to single-seaters.

He won the 2019 British F4 Championship at the Brands Hatch final, having already clinched the Rookie Cup with seven races to go, and became the first Caribbean driver to be inducted into the prestigious BRDC Rising Stars programme. Last year, he moved up to the EuroFormula Open Championship, ending the season eighth overall and third in the Rookie table. His best overall results came early in the season, third at the Hungaroring then second at Paul Ricard in France.

This year, EuroFormula and the former Renault SuperCup have been combined to create the new Formula Regional series, which is a certified step from F4 to F3 on the FIA path from karting to F1. After finishing third at Imola, then ninth twice in Barcelona, Zane was ninth in the standings heading into the weekend’s two races on the unforgiving 3.3-kilometre street circuit. Their one-two results promoted Hadjar to third, Zane to fifth and R-ace GP to the top of the Teams standings.

Zane was fourth in free practice, after which the 33 cars were split into two qualifying sessions on Friday, from which only the fastest 23 would be guaranteed to start both races, the rest making up the maximum 28-car grid on either Saturday or Sunday. Hadjar was fastest (1m 29.727s) in the first session, with Zane setting the best time of the weekend (1:28.893) on his final lap in the second session, which meant pole on Sunday for Zane, Saturday for Hadjar.

In Saturday’s race – each is 30 minutes plus one lap – Hadjar pulled cleanly away with Zane tucked in behind, the positions maintained throughout, despite one Safety Car period, on a circuit that allows little overtaking. Paul Aron finished third. Sunday’s race was a more lively affair, red flagged on the opening lap following a multi-car mid-field incident which blocked the narrow track. Zane had led Hadjar at the start and did so again at the rolling restart behind the Safety Car. His team-mate put him under severe pressure throughout, but Zane kept his nerve, handling the restarts after two further Safety Car interventions in commanding style, to claim victory. (RB)