PREMA keeps performing as Wharton scores maiden win at Mugello
PREMA Racing continued to keep a winning pace as the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine came back on track in Italy at Mugello for round 5. Putting up an almost perfect performance in qualifying, James Wharton started from the front row in Race 2 and cruised to a dominant victory on Sunday, mastering the competition and the extreme heat of the Tuscan summer. The Australian started from P11 in the opening race and already showed great pace with a swift recovery to P7.
Brazilian Rafael Camara claimed a double top-5 finish as he worked his way through the weekend despite some hard fighting, and was a major contender for the podium positions. Unfortunately, he lost P3 in Race 2 due to a penalty. Still, the points achieved at Mugello enabled him to retain his championship lead heading into Paul Ricard for round 6.
Ugo Ugochukwu showed promising potential. The American captured a points finish in Race 1, battling within a tight pack from a challenging qualifying. After a remarkable qualifying 2 effort, where he showed positive speed, the pace dropped throughout Race 2 causing him to fall through the field to finish in P13.
The PREMA Racing trio will now be back racing at Circuit Paul Ricard.
#3 - Ugo Ugochukwu
"In qualifying on Saturday we ended up sixth in group and started from P11. It was difficult to make progress and we only finished one position ahead. We improved a lot for qualifying on Sunday and we started from the top-5, but the race was quite tricky, we struggled with pace and eventyally went down through the field. We are looking into it to see what went along and be better for the next round."
#5 - Rafael Camara
"Good weekend here in Mugello. Not the results we wanted, but I think we made a very good progress over the weekend. We managed to get back to the top fighting. Laptimes were very close but in the races we lacked a little bit of pace. Still, we got good points during the weekend, as the key to this championship is to be consistent. We will now work on the details to be back stronger in Paul Ricard."
#13 - James Wharton
"I feel that overall Day 1 was not great, on my side we left a little bit on table in qualy, but we got back to the points from P12, which is quite good at Mugello in FRECA. On the other hand, Sunday showed the pace we had this year, and I hope this can give us big momentum for the rest of the season."