PREMA Racing faced another challenging qualifying session at Bahrain International Circuit as the FIA Formula 3 Championship went underway for round 2 at the desert venue.
Noel León set the 14th fastest lap at the end of the session as the headlining PREMA driver. The Mexican will be starting both races from the seventh row. Italian Brando Badoer finished two spots behind him in P16 while Ugo Ugochukwu had to settle for P21. Despite being one of the leading contenders in the early stages, the American could not improve in his final push and had to settle outside the top-20.
The team will be working to make a step forward ahead of the weekend's two races.
#1 BRANDO BADOER
"It was quite a tough session. The result is not what we wanted, although I think I did what I could. We won't back down until we are where we want to be, and we'll work as hard as possible to try and develop in a positive way."
#2 NOEL LEON
"A pretty difficult day here in Bahrain, to be honest. We are missing a bit of overall pace and managed to qualify in P14. It's not too bad as we are close to the points zone. We can do some overtakes to get to the points. Our goal is to maximize our opportunities in both races."
#3 UGO UGOCHUKWU
"The start of qualifying was pretty good as we were P5 after the first run, but it went away from us a little bit at the end. It's not what we were expecting. We have to see what went wrong and try to push forward in the races."