PREMA, Fluxa claim podium finish at Hungaroring
PREMA Racing ended a challenging weekend with a valuable podium finish in round 3 of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine at Hungaroring. Spaniard Lorenzo Fluxá started from the second row on the grid in race 2 and made a brilliant move in turn 1 to take second place. Then he held onto the position through several safety cars and restarts to claim his best career finish in the series and his first podium of the year. He was coming from another points finish in race 1 which helped him retain fifth place in the driver championship.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli posted a double points finish as well in an up-and-down weekend from him. After dominating race 1 with a splendid run, the Italian was slowed by a gear selection issue which cost him four spots and dropped him back to P5. After facing difficult times in qualifying 2, Antonelli started from the fifth row on the grid and fought his way up to the seventh place on a track not known for its passing opportunities.
Brazilian Rafael Camara showed great pace once again, but couldn't put it together in qualifying and ended up with a P7 and a P11 finish. The Ferrari Driver Academy racer delivered a masterful comeback in race 2 after a troubled opening lap, fighting back from outside the top 20.
The Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine will be back underway in two weeks at Spa-Francorchamps supporting the 2023 24 Hours of Spa.
#8 - Rafael Camara
"In the end, we made a good recovery in race 2. We had the pace to be at the front, but sometimes it's not your day or weekend which happened here at Hungaroring, where we couldn't put it all together. We have a week to look at everything and come back stronger. There is a long way to go in the championship, and we will have a lot of chances to fight back. Now we are just looking forward to Spa."
#7 - Lorenzo Fluxa
"I'm so happy to end the event with a positive podium. There were two sides to this weekend. In qualy 1 and Race 1 on Saturday we didn't maximize the speed we had due to a mistake on my side that compromised the starting position. In qualifying 2 and race 2, we almost did the best we could, even though you can always be better, and put everything together well. In the race, we managed to hold on with a good start and finish on the podium. Let's go!"
#12 - Kimi Antonelli
"Not a great weekend from the collective test where we were struggling quite a bit. On Friday we started to be a bit better, even though a wing issue while doing a qualifying simulation meant that I wasn't really able to try the new tyre. On Saturday we didn't really know what to expect in qualy but we still managed to get a P2 in the group and P3 overall. The start of Race 1 was really good, and I got to the lead but unfortunately, I had a technical issue which left me stuck in fourth gear. I lost the lead and some other places and finished P5. It was quite frustrating because we lost quite a bit of points. Qualifying 2 didn't go as planned and we finished P5 in group and P10 overall, otherwise with a strong pace we could have fought for pole. Then we knew it would have been hard to recover as here it's hard to overtake. It was a clean race, we stayed out of trouble and finished in P7, it was damage limitation. I'm also not totally happy with my performance as I didn't have a perfect feeling with the track and car this weekend. We have a week to reset and come back stronger at Spa, a track I really like and where we can do really good."