PREMA Powerteam experienced an eventful weekend at Monza as the team lined up for the final round of the 2021 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine. Coming from a double 1-2 at Mugello, the team showed great speed potential despite missing out on a win due to attrition in an eventful race 2.
Paul Aron ended the championship in third place, keeping up his great form of late. The 17-year-old Estonian went from P12 on the grid to P6 in a hard-fought race 2, before finishing second in race 3 from P6. Dino Beganovic rounded out the top-5 in race 1, while a post-race penalty pushed David Vidales down to P10.
Race 2 turned out to be extremely eventful. In qualifying 2, the 17-year-old Swedish rookie scored his maiden series pole in front of Vidales and Aron, and after the start, the team was running in 1-2-3 formation. A lengthy red flag brought everybody to the pit-lane for almost 30 minutes and when the action resumed, contact between Vidales and Beganovic at the second chicane put both of them out of contention.
It was a heartbreak for the PREMA team, but Aron maximised the situation, coming out with a podium although a previous run-in deprived of what would have been a possible win.
#1 - Paul Aron
“I think the end of the season was really strong for us. We took two wins in Mugello, plus a second place and a strong points finish here at Monza. In the last race, the potential was great, we did everything we could to achieve second place in the championship, but Hadrien David was on it all weekend and did a good job. We could have fought for the win, as we were the strongest car on the track, but we met some obstacles along the way. I’m happy for the team as they made a mega job during the year, but they deserved a 1-2-3 finish today and in the end, it’s the only thing I’m disappointed about.”
# 12 - David Vidales
"It was a real pity for today’s contact. I feel for Dino, but when my car jumped over the bollard I couldn’t control it anymore. We showed we could be really competitive this weekend, but unfortunately the results did not reflect the potential."
# 17 - Dino Beganovic
“Mega weekend, we have been on the pace since Thursday, already in the first session we have been on top, and on Sunday we showed all our potential, with my first pole in regional in Q2 and leading most of the laps, it was fantastic. We did everything perfectly today until the incident happened. Not much to say about it. Otherwise, we messed up a bit in Q1, but we had the pace on dry tyres too and we really showed it in the race with a strong comeback to P5. In the end, we also finished P3 in the rookie championship, not too disappointed with that. We keep learning, and we will come back stronger.”