PREMA, Minì claim dominant Monte Carlo win
Gabriele Minì delivered an amazing win today at the Monaco Grand Prix, leading from pole to victory in Race 2 of the FIA Formula 3 Championship at the world's famous street course. The PREMA Racing Italian kept control at the start and then slowly built his pace, saving his tyres in the early stages to pull away in the end. After a late safety-car situation, the fresher rubber enabled the Alpine Academy racer to keep the lead and take home his second Feature Race win at Monte Carlo.
Both Arvid Lindblad and Dino Beganovic retained their starting positions. Driving for the first time in Monaco, the Red Bull Junior capitalized on his great Qualifying performance to secure a great haul of points to add to his rookie season. On the other hand, the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy Swede took the most out of the weekend despite some hard luck in Qualifying.
With today's result, Minì stormed to the top of the Driver Championship, while PREMA increased his lead in the Team Championship.
#1 DINO BEGANOVIC
"Not what we wanted at the beginning of the weekend, P7 and P6 in the races. We had great speed all weekend and a great feeling with the car. It's frustrating not to be able to do something in the races after the red flag in the last corner in qualifying, but we take the points and focus on Barcelona. It's good to have the confidence in the car that we were missing in Imola. We look forward to the tripleheader in June and July."
#2 GABRIELE MINÌ
"What a weekend! Going from pole to victory at Monte Carlo was really special and we also brought home great points. My start was not great, but I managed to keep the position. I tried to take it easy at the beginning and save the tyres as it would have been too risky to go for the fastest lap. It paid off. In the final laps, it was really hard for the other drivers to keep up, and after the safety car I just pulled a big gap straight away and took the win."
#3 ARVID LINDBLAD
"Happy with the race today. I tried to get a clean, tidy opening lap to take all the opportunities that didn't really come. I stayed in P4 and managed the tyres, tried to push a little bit for the fastest lap but then focused on being consistent and take the tyres to the end. The pace was very strong and we got some solid points in my first race at Monte Carlo. Happy to be in P4 and be consistently at the front. I look forward to Barcelona in a few weeks, let's see how it goes there. Thank you to the team for the great car!"