PREMA Racing continued the team's strong form as the FIA Formula Regional European Championship got back underway with the second race of its new era at Zandvoort. The legendary Dutch venue never disappoints and once again delivered, with plenty of action that resulted in a double podium for the team.
It began with a stellar pole position for Kean Nakamura-Berta, who was closely followed by Tomass Stolcermanis in Qualifying 1 Group A. Salim Hanna, meanwhile, posted a very positive P2 in Group B.
Post-qualifying, both the Japanese-Slovakian and the Latvian were disqualified, before being reinstated following the team's appeal.
Still, Nakamura-Berta was impacted by a grid penalty carried over from the Red Bull Ring opener and was forced to start buried in the pack. Salim Hanna rose to the occasion, becoming the star performer of the opening race. He moved on Stolcermanis to take second place early and even managed to pressure the leader, holding on to P2 to claim his first podium in the series.
More chances came with Race 2, and Nakamura-Berta started from pole position courtesy of another outstanding qualifying display. Unfortunately, following a lengthy red flag, he dropped to P2 and never had a real opportunity to fight back, with a late safety car neutralizing the final stages.
After a P10 in Race 1, Stolcermanis brought home another points finish in P7, adding valuable points that secured P2 for PREMA Racing in the Teams' Championship.
#51 KEAN NAKAMURA-BERTA
"Going into the races I was always going to be on the back foot with the 10-place grid penalty from Red Bull Ring, but we executed a decent weekend. We got P1 in both our qualifying groups, taking pole position and P2 overall. Race 1 was a bit chaotic and some things happened out of my control, but we brought the car home. In Race 2 we had a good fight for the lead and ended up with P2. The team did an incredible job all weekend and now it's full focus on Spa-Francorchamps, where we will have three races again!"
#60 TOMASS STOLCERMANIS
"First time in Zandvoort, never even tested there, but I loved it. I had to learn it in practice and I knew we had the potential to put it together in qualifying despite not having a lot of confidence. In the end, we achieved a very solid lap with P2 in the group and P3 overall. I had a good start and got into the lead in Race 1, but I didn't get a strong restart after the safety car. I lost one spot and it was a snowball effect from there, losing more and more ground. I probably overpushed in the beginning. Still, it was a good learning experience. We managed Qualifying 2 much better than Race 1, qualifying P4 in the group and P7 overall, which was very solid. I had a good start and just managed the tyres and pressure from behind. In the last five laps, I got into a good rhythm and caught the front pack. I had saved a lot of push-to-pass, but we eventually got a safety car. After that, we had only one lap and I could not use the push-to-pass. I still pulled off a solid move to gain one spot. I can say I'm on the happy side for this weekend."
#88 SALIM HANNA
"It was a pretty good weekend, and we can take a lot of positives. In Qualifying 1 we took P2 and came very close to pole. The car was feeling really good — we managed to make a great step forward from practice. Race 1 was great too. The start was not the best, but with good tyre management we caught up with Wheldon in the last lap. I have a bit of a regret for not going for it, but it was a 50/50 situation anyway. We struggled a bit with the car and my driving, but we will fix it and it won't happen again. Not much to say about Race 2. I gained positions at the start but we were stuck in dirty air. I saved push-to-pass for the final laps, but it was not ideal with the safety car in the end."