PREMA Racing got back to the podium today in Spielberg, as Ugo Ugochukwu delivered a clean run at the twisty Austrian track after fighting for pole yesterday.
Staying consistent in the first part of the race, the American was able to climb up to P3 and successfully defended himself from the competitors in a hard-fought finale to deliver the team's first podium of the year.
Brando Badoer also had the chance to battle among the top 5 and traded positions with Ugochukwu showing promising pace. Unfortunately, a late contact put him out of contention and after pitting he finished in P24, which caused a safety-car situation that recompacted the pack.
Noel Leon, who was taking off from P13, had his anti-stall come on at the start. In a race that proved just as close as qualifying in terms of pace, the Mexican drove back to P12 to show impressive form.
#1 BRANDO BADOER
"The pace was really good and I was inside the top 5 fighting for the podium all the time. Unfortunately, I misjudged an overtaking maneuver and hit the car in front, so I had to pit to change tyres and front wing. At that point, the race was compromised. We will go into tomorrow to try to make the best of what we have."
#2 NOEL LEON
"Overall, a positive race apart from the anti-stall at the beginning. We lost a lot of positions but in the end, we recovered. I think we gathered great information for tomorrow and I think we can make a good race then with the pace we have."
#3 UGO UGOCHUKWU
"A really good result today, we managed to get a podium in the Sprint Race. We started in P5 and the pace was there throughout the race. It was a bit of a DRS train, and it was difficult to make things happen, but I got into P3. Towards the end, it was a bit tricky, and it was hard to defend my position until the end so I was pushing really hard. We made great progress, tomorrow from P8 we try to move forward and make some more points."