PREMA Racing wraps up Italian Formula 4 Team Championship at Monza
PREMA Racing cruised to a double win at Monza to mathematically clinch the 2022 Italian Formula 4 team title with one round still to be held at Mugello. In a weekend impacted by adverse weather, Austrian Charlie Wurz and Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli shared the wins in race 1 and 2 respectively, while race 3 was postponed.
In a dry race 1, Wurz started well from pole and led all the way to the finish, defending himself from a highly-competitive 44-car pack. By pulling amazing re-starts, Wurz captured his first European win in perfect fashion. In race 2, which was moved to the afternoon due to heavy rainfall, Wurz fought back from P4 to finish P2 behind Antonelli, who also led from start to finish despite having to deal with re-starts. The Italian claimed his 10th win of the year and is now in prime position for the driver championship.
After finishing fourth in the first race and celebrating onto the rookie podium, Brazilian Rafael Camâra lost position in the heat of the battle in race 2, but rebounded to a points finish in P10. On the other hand, teammates James Wharton and Conrad Laursen had a tough weekend despite showing impressive pace. The Australian was involved in contact in race 1 before a penalty cost him fourth place in race 2. Attrition also caused the Dane to slip out of the points zone twice.
With the points scored this weekend at the Italian temple of speed, PREMA was able to secure the Team Championship with one round to go at Mugello. The team will also line-up with high expectations for the final round of the German Formula 4 season next week at Nürburgring.
#7 - Charlie Wurz
"I’m quite happy with the weekend. A big thank you goes to the team, we worked hard throughout the test and the rest of the weekend to perfect the setup. Qualifying went very well, we got one pole position, the first one of the year. Race 1 went perfectly according to plan, we defended every lap. It was tough to keep people behind with a big slipstream, but to win my first race in Monza is so cool, such a historic track. Race 2 took a while to start, but went really well. We struggled a bit at the beginning, but we fought back in the end, with P2 on track. One mistake cost us the chance to fight for the win. We can still be very happy, and we can’t wait for Mugello.
#12 - Andrea Kimi Antonelli
"It hasn’t been an easy weekend because there were a lot of cars on the track and we were all together. It was hard to find a gap. We did well in qualifying with P6 and P1 but then race 1 didn’t go as I wanted because I got some contact in the first lap. I restarted last, but I was able to recover from P41 to P11. I was a bit disappointed because I knew I could have achieved a better result. I reset my mind, and today it was much better in race 2, which was postponed to the afternoon due to heavy rain. Starting from pole, I kept the lead the whole race, and it was an amazing feeling to win here in Monza."
#13 - James Wharton
"Monza was definitely not my weekend. There was so much potential, but no results to show it. Now onto the next!"
#20 - Conrad Laursen
"Overall I think the pace this weekend was quite good as it was at Red Bull Ring. Unfortunately, there has been a mistake on my side which cost a crash in race 1, and an unlucky race 2. We were there, we just didn’t put the weekend together. Now we move forward to the final round at Mugello."
#88 - Rafael Camara
"This weekend we were always there, but we made some mistakes and overall we didn’t get the points we could have. The positive is that we were always fast, and I think we could have finished the race in the top 3. We look forward to the next events at Nurburgring and Mugello, and the focus will be on doing some good races and scoring the maximum amount of points possible."