Coming off a tough season in Italian F4, Liu Ruiqi stepped up to FRECA in 2024 with Trident. The Shanghai-born driver had a difficult season but scored points on two occasions and made a one-off cameo in the F4 Chinese Championship, where he finished on the podium in the Formula One-supported round.
By Marco Albertini
After a difficult season in Italian F4 with US Racing, Liu joined PHM Racing for the Formula Regional Middle East Championship in the winter of 2024. The winter series proved to be a scoreless affair for Liu, who headed back to China to compete in the opening round of that year’s F4 Chinese Championship at Shanghai with Black Blade GP.
In a weekend part of Formula One’s Chinese Grand Prix, Liu took fifth- and third-place finishes in the two races. Reflecting on the experience, he said: “I think the championship has improved a lot. The level compared to before is way higher, the teams, the race engineers and the environment of China are also making progress and I’m happy with it.”
With momentum from his performance in Shanghai, Liu shifted focus to the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, joining Trident alongside Alpine junior Nicola Lacorte and Rodin F3-bound Roman Bilinski.
After a slow start to the season, Liu turned his fortunes around at the Hungaroring. Qualifying 11th for race one, he had a clean race and was classified ninth after post-race penalties.
For the second race, Liu started 23rd and gained five positions at the start and after exchanging positions with MP Motorsport’s Valerio Rinicella, he finished the race in 18th.
Liu Ruiqi at the Hungaroring | Credit: FRECA / ACI Sport
The following round at Mugello was another high for the Chinese driver, qualifying 14th for race one, Liu initially dropped to 15th at the start but stayed out of trouble to finish 13th.
Race two was even better for Liu, starting 13th, he gained two positions at the start and overtook Enzo Peugeot for tenth at the first corner for 10th place. Liu initially lost a position to Ivan Domingues but fought back to overtake Ugo Ugochukwu, securing his second top-ten finish of the season.
After a trouble-free round at Paul Ricard that saw him gain sixteen positions in race two alone, Liu had a clean start to the Imola weekend, finishing 17th in race one after battling with G4 Racing’s Kanato Le.
In the second race of the weekend, held in wet conditions, Liu gained six positions at the start from 24th and ran as high as 11th before falling out of the top 20 with two laps to go. He eventually finished 18th as the race ended under the safety car.
The next round in Austria started on a sour note, with Liu retiring in the gravel in turn four in the opening race of the weekend. Fortunes seemed to be up for race two, where he gained 11 positions in the opening laps, but after contact with Romain Andriolo which sent Liu for a spin, he could only settle for 18th as the race ended.
Liu Ruiqi at the Red Bull Ring | Credit: FRECA / ACI Sport
Following a quiet round at Barcelona, the final round in Monza was a promising yet tough weekend for the Chinese driver. After the first round of qualifying was canceled due to excessive rain, practice times determined the grid, meaning Liu would start fifth for race one.
For most of the race, Liu ran in the top five but towards the end began to struggle pace-wise and ultimately was involved in a last-lap crash at the Rettifilio chicane, taking him out of contention.
In race two, Liu climbed seven places but a slip at Lesmo 2 led to a collision with Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi, ending his race prematurely. Although Liu’s race ended in a collision, he was classified 18th after the red flag caused by Bhirombhakdi’s car catching fire, with results taken from the previous lap.
I’m happy with the progress made since the winter of last season
Liu on his first year in FRECA
Speaking about the car and the championship ahead of the finale, Liu said: “The FRECA car is more difficult to drive [than F4], the championship is also tough but they have upgraded the suspension kit and it has been easier with the steering force to manage.”
Reflecting on his maiden year with Trident in FRECA, Liu said: “I think, so far it’s been positive, the team, the staff, everybody is really nice. I’m happy with the progress made since the winter of last season until now. I think we’re on the right way and the team is really good.”
Last December it was announced that Liu would stay with Trident for his sophomore season in the championship, alongside Matteo De Palo and Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi.
Header image credit: Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine
