PREMA claims two points finishes in Race 1
It was a tough race 1 for PREMA Racing at Barcelona after yesterday's tricky qualifying. The opening race of the FIA Formula 3 Championship at the Spanish GP venue was highly competitive right from the start, as expected, and the team could secure two points finishes with Dino Beganovic and Arvid Lindblad.
The Swede had a brilliant start from 15th place on the grid and quickly made gains, slicing through the field. However, with a compact pack, his progress was more limited as he needed to manage the tyre and balance situation. The potential was there though, handing four points with P8.
Lindblad started from the sixth row of the grid after securing P2 in qualifying and was shuffled a bit to the back in a challenging run. Still, he avoided making mistakes and grabbed P9.
Gabriele Minì had the worst luck. The Italian gained a remarkable amount of positions after being pushed off in a first-lap melee, but contact caused him a puncture, which resulted in a crash and a DNF.
The three teammates will be back into action for Race 2 tomorrow.
#1 DINO BEGANOVIC
"Finished the Sprint Race in P8. We had a very good start off the line and first lap. I made the right decisions, gaining some places there. The pace felt really good in the beginning. I could stay with the frontrunners and do some moves. After the safety car, it was a bit more tricky, as we were struggling a little bit with the balance, similar to qualifying. We still need to improve for tomorrow, but overall the potential is there. We will try to do the same start tomorrow and that would put us in a good position to score even more points."
#2 GABRIELE MINÌ
"Race 1 was far from ideal. We didn't have the best launch at the start. We wanted to try and gain a few positions, but didn't go as planned. I was pushed off in the first corners and found myself around P18 so I had even more ground to make. We managed to fight back to P11 with some good overtakes and pace, and we stabilized there. It was really hard to follow. With three laps to go, we had a contact that resulted in a puncture, and there was nothing I could do. It's a shame, but I think we can gain a few points tomorrow."
#3 ARVID LINDBLAD
"A bit of a difficult race today. We got a good start and managed to make quite a few positions, but we struggled for pace in the early laps and dropped back a bit. In the middle-to-end race, I was able to stabilize, but we need to analyze that for tomorrow. We are still in a pretty good position. We know we can do better to try and challenge for the win tomorrow."