PREMA Racing continued its winning form in the second round of the Italian Formula 4 Championship at Vallelunga. The team secured three wins in the heat races with Kean Nakamura-Berta and Sebastian Wheldon, and while contact involved the two in the opening stages of the Final, the potential was impressive since the start.
Nakamura took pole in qualifying, and won his first two heats. While in the first he kept a hard-recovering Tomass Stolcermanis at bay, he, Wheldon, and Stolcermanis went all out for victory in the second with the American finishing in P2.
Wheldon bounced back to take his second win of the season in heat 3, fighting back to P1 after missing out at the start and then sailing into the distance after a re-start.
Coming from a podium in Race 1, Stolcermanis had a positive Race 2, although the three-way battle among teammates saw him conclude in P4. Unfortunately, a technical issue sidelined him in the final.
Salim Hanna delivered another outstanding weekend, taking home two rookie wins and an overall podium in the final, after delivering a solid start to cap off a consistent job. The Colombian has made it to P5 overall in points, while he keeps headlining the rookie competition.
Newman Chi showcased impressive speed and racecraft to rebound from a tough qualifying. Two points finishes in the first two races were followed by a DNF in the Final, when he was hit from behind and fell to the back.
Last but not least, Oleksandr Bondarev also had a tough qualifying session. He wrapped up the weekend with a top-10 finish and is now looking forward to Round 3 at Monza.
#27 - Oleksandr Bondarev
"Difficult weekend. Qualifying around here is super important and under some circumstances, we couldn't perform the best way we could and with the pace we had in practice because of the rain. The races were all about learning and trying to overtake as many cars as I could. We have to take the positives and changes into Monza, where we expect to be really fast."
#28 - Newman Chi
"The pace was fine in practice, but we struggled with the rain in qualifying, and had a few issues. Both heat races were quite good, while in the final one, I was unlucky at the start. There were collisions out front, and I had to avoid them losing a lot of positions. Someone eventually took me out so I had to finish the race at the back."
#33 - Tomass Stolcermanis
"We showed quite a good pace in practice with the dry and I was quite happy about it. Then qualifying turned tricky with a drying track and rain tyres, and we didn't manage to put the perfect lap in because red flags came out and we couldn't finish the lap. Still, we finished in P3. Heat 1 went quite well as I managed to overtake the second-placed car in lap 1, and even though I struggled behind the leader all race, I think the pace was good enough to fight for the win. In the second heat I didn't have the best start. We lost positions but gained them back in the first two laps. In the end, I lost the rear tyres and that caused an oversteer. I eventually had a bit of an incident with a teammate that pushed me wide. In the final, I had a good launch but something happened to the car, maybe the gearbox, and I lost all gears."
#51 - Kean Nakamura-Berta
"The first two races went really well and the first one was even better than the second, where we fiddled a bit with the setup and struggled a bit more. Plus, it was a hectic race with a lot of defending. I didn't get off the line amazingly in the final, and that caused a quite dramatic opening lap. I think it was a racing incident going around in T4. I got squeezed a bit and it was a bit of a sandwich. I lost my front wing, dropped back to dead last, and made my way back to P11, which is still a good result all things considered. The pace was there for sure. In the end it was an entertaining race, but not the best way to close the second round. Overall, still good points in the bag, and we keep our head forward for Monza."
#88 - Salim Hanna
"Interesting week. In qualifying we took P6 and we had the margin to be into the top-3 but we didn't put everything together. In race 1 we did a good job, we didn't kill our tyres early and gained two positions to finish in P5 and P1 rookie. In Race 2, the start was bad, I lost many positions and went off in turn 7. In the Final, we focused on having a good start and we did it, showing that with a good start, everything is possible."
#98 - Sebastian Wheldon
"I can't thank PREMA enough for the great weekend, they gave me a great car and my engineer Philippe is always helping and supporting me. Race 3 was good. The start was not easy, but already on lap 2, I was able to get back to the lead. I made a good move to the outside of turn 8, and after the safety-car, I got a good restart and sailed away. The final race was disappointing, as unfortunately me and Kean had contact. It's racing and that happens."