PREMA Racing showed remarkable progress today in Spielberg, with solid pace and good lap times on the board for the FIA Formula 3 Championship qualifying session at the Styrian autodrome.
Ugo Ugochukwu was in contention for pole in an incredibly close battle that featured 17 drivers covered by less than five tenths of a second. While on his last flying lap and with a purple middle sector, the American was caught in a spin before closing the lap. He still finished in P8 overall.
Fellow McLaren Driver Development Programme racer Brando Badoer made his way back to the top 10 and was also a contender with the series' frontrunner. He eventually finished the session in P9 and will start the reverse-grid Sprint Race from P3.
Noel León finished in P13 but despite the position, his lap times were almost identical to the ones of the pack in front, and he was only one tenth away from the top-5 battle.
#1 BRANDO BADOER
"It was a good qualifying session. We nailed the goal, which was to stay in the top 10, and I can be happy with that considering I didn't turn a lap this morning in practice due to a mistake on my part. It's a positive end to the day, now it's time to focus on the races."
#2 NOEL LEON
"Overall it was a positive qualy. We were quite competitive in the first set but we didn't maximize everything with the second. We finished in P13, and it's a bit of a shame because we lost P1 for the reverse grid, but it's OK. Now we have to focus on the races. We think we have a good car and I think we can fight for points tomorrow."
#3 UGO UGOCHUKWU
"The pace was really good today and we made a big step from the last race. We were strong throughout the whole qualy. I was on a good lap but made a mistake in the last corner and we had to settle for P8. The potential was much better, so we try to make it back in the races and score points."