PREMA secures double podium finish in Round 2
PREMA Racing secured two podium finishes and valuable points in Miami, as the F1 Academy got back underway for Round 2 of 2024 in the USA. French racer Doriane Pin, who was coming from a win in the season opener at Jeddah, scored second and third place respectively in two linear races.
Maya Weug posted two points finishes and solidified her third place in points behind Pin, mastering the closed-quarter battle that animated the mid-pack all weekend. Weug drove her car home to sixth place in Race 1 before rounding out the top 5 in Race 2.
Having shown great promise between practice and qualifying earlier in the weekend, Tina Hausmann could not complete a single race lap, as she was punted out of contention in both Race 1 and 2 in a double DNF.
Joining the team as a wild-card driver, Courtney Crone made remarkable progress, competing in the series for the first time in her home event. The American finished both races with a promising pace and maximized the learning experience.
#28 - Doriane Pin
"Not the weekend we wanted, but we still scored good points for the championship, two podiums, and that's still positive. We definitely missed something, even though I think we made a step forward in Race 2. The season is long and we know that we can fight for the wins and title. I liked to compete in Miami. It is a fast track and a challenging one, sector one is all about fast corners, while sectors two and three are quite technical. There is a bit of everything, so it has been a good track to learn and prepare for the rest of the season. We will now focus on the next event and we will work to come back even stronger."
#19 - Tina Hausmann
"Luck was not on our side this time, but I hope that we now had all the bad luck for the season and from now we will be able to show our full potential. In practice, I made good improvements driving-wise and learned the track quite fast. In qualifying, I was quick with the first set, but the run on the second set didn't go our way due to some circumstances. We focused on the first race and had a great start, but I was hit by another driver and had to retire. I regathered all my confidence and motivation for the second race, and I had another very good start, before being hit in the rear right again, with the damage preventing us from continuing. Very unfortunate weekend, not much driving, but we have to continue working to show our strength in the next one."
#64 - Maya Weug
"Tough weekend in Miami. We tried to improve in free practice to be ready for qualifying. The first run in qualy was good, but then we struggled to put the tyres up to temp in the second and missed out quite a bit, which compromised the starting positions for the races. We tried to make the most of the good battles on the track in the races, but I think we have some stuff to look back for before we go to Barcelona to try to improve and hopefully have a better pace when we go back on track there."
#77 - Courtney Crone
"This weekend has been amazing, I made big steps in my progress, personally and with the car as well, from practice 1 to the second race. I am so excited to have had the opportunity to work with PREMA and run the QVC F1 Academy car. Hopefully, this will transpire into something more eventually. Overall it was a great weekend with the team, and also driving on my first street course was pretty exciting. It's always good to run on an F1 weekend, and the support has been amazing from the fans, the team, and F1 Academy. I look forward to what the future may hold."