PREMA scores points, podiums at Hungaroring
PREMA Racing continued to show positive form in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine at Hungaroring. Lining up on the tight and twisty Hungarian venue for round 4 of the 2024 season, the team sealed a double podium finish, with Brazilian Rafael Camara ending up in P3 in Race 1, and American Ugo Ugochukwu finishing in the same position in Race 2 after a battle between the two.
Ugochukwu also scored a points finish in Race 1 after dealing with challenging situations in Qualifying 1. On the other hand, Camara lost a possible podium in Race 2 due to a penalty for a touch with Ugochukwu, and was classified P6.
It was a tougher weekend for James Wharton, who had to fight back after qualifying, but did so in remarkable fashion with a sixth and a fourth place to increase his championship score.
With Camara still in the lead of the Driver Championship, the series will now head into the next event at Mugello.
#3 - UGO UGOCHUKWU
"Overall, it was a decent weekend here in Hungaroring. We made qualifying 1 with the wet and I was P5 in group, we could have been better without a yellow flag in my last lap. Nevertheless, we ended up P9 in Race 1, being a bit difficult to overtake around here. Race 2 was in the dry, I had a really good start, I managed to get up to P2 and I was having a positive race. I didn't get the best safety-car restart, and dropped back to P4 but a post-race penalty helped us to go back to the podium. It was a step in the right direction compared to Zandvoort, and we're going to try to keep this momentum into the next round."
#5 - RAFAEL CÂMARA
"We got good points for the championship here in Hungaroring. In qualifying 1, we missed a little of pace but we got back in Race 1, where we managed to get a podium after crossing the finish line in P4. For Q2, we were back in the front row again, but the race turned out quite difficult. The first lap was quite tricky but I was there battling with Ugo and got good points for the championship. We just need to keep working like this, because the key to this championship is to be consistent and we are managing this. I'm really thankful to the team for the amazing job and now we'll prepare to come back even stronger at Mugello."
#13 - JAMES WHARTON
"This was so far the hardest weekend for pace overall. We haven't been quite quick enough since Thursday so we were on a back foot all weekend. A tough qualifying put us not where we needed to be for the races, and the races were quite difficult at this track, not being able to overtake. It's been a challenging weekend, but we did some solid races and got some points."