PREMA Racing carried its winning form forward in Barcelona, as the Spanish Grand Prix track was home to the penultimate round of the Italian Formula 4 Championship. With consistently competitive runs across the board, the team made positive steps ahead of the series finale at Misano, even though only two races were completed due to heavy rain and an early red flag in Race 3.
Kean Nakamura-Berta started from pole and put up a stellar display in Race 1, dominating from start to finish and ending up with a large margin of more than five seconds. For PREMA, it was a 1-2 finish as Colombian Salim Hanna took P2 overall and a class win to solidify his rookie prominence. Nakamura-Berta started from third place in Race 2 and moved up to the second spot right away. His push to the front came up short due to a late safety car that froze the action for good with two laps to go.
Race 2 also featured an all-PREMA rookie podium. Coming from an already positive fourth place overall in Race 1, Zhenrui Chi posted a class win in front of Hanna and Andrea Dupe. For the Frenchman, it was the first rookie podium, highlighting impressive growth as shown by the promising qualifying runs.
Sebastian Wheldon achieved a P6 and a P4 in the opening two races. The American seemed set for a possible win in Race 3 with a good move for the lead. However, soon the sky got dark and an enormous downpour started to hit the venue, which led to a lengthy safety car and a red flag. As the minimum distance was not achieved, no points were awarded.
Coming from two tough qualifying sessions, Oleksandr Bondarev could not score points. Starting buried in the mid pack, the Ukrainian was unable to recover to the top-10 even though progress on race pace was evident. Nevertheless, the wins, podiums, and points finishes secured in the first two races enabled PREMA to clinch its fourth consecutive Italian F4 Trophy for Teams with one round to go.
#27 Andrea Dupe
“Solid weekend, and qualifying went especially well apart from Q1, where I got unlucky with the red flag. I was starting from P8 and P7 for Race 2 and 3. In Race 1, we started quite far back, and it was just about understanding the tyres and balance for the next two races without taking risks. Race 2 was solid. I lost a bit at the start, but the pace was quite strong. In Race 3, the start wasn’t great. I lost three positions, but we fought back until it began raining pretty badly, and the race was red-flagged.”
Qualifying 1: P21 Fastest lap: 1:42.770
Qualifying 2: P8 Fastest lap: 1:41.888
Starting position Race 1: P21 Race 1: P21
Starting position Race 2: P8 Race 2: P9
Starting position Race 3: P7
#27 Oleksandr Bondarev
“We didn’t really have the pace in qualifying, and we found a really good step in the races, but just starting at the back here, it’s really difficult to overtake and fight back. Still, we made good progress in terms of the long run pace, and I feel confident for the next round in Misano.”
Qualifying 1: P12 Fastest lap: 1:42.569
Qualifying 2: P16 Fastest lap: 1:42.179
Starting position Race 1: P12 Race 1: P14
Starting position Race 2: P16 Race 2: P15
Starting position Race 3: P16
#28 Zhenrui Chi
“Not a bad weekend. Qualifying didn’t go as planned, as we struggled a bit on the balance, but Q2 was quite close, and we got a good result. Race 1 was a good one with a positive start, and I did a good job managing the tyres. I had an advantage at the end. Race 2 I did everything I could, while in race 3 we were missing a bit on older tyres, but overall it has been a fine weekend, not much more to say.”
Qualifying 1: P7 Fastest lap: 1:42.468
Qualifying 2: P7 Fastest lap: 1:41.886
Starting position Race 1: P7 Race 1: P4
Starting position Race 2: P7 Race 2: P7
Starting position Race 3: P9
#51 Kean Nakamura-Berta
“Overall, a pretty good weekend in Barcelona, I think we executed a pretty good qualifying on Saturday morning, we had a good Race 1 with a 5-second lead, it was incredible. Race 2, we made one position and finished second. We kept the pressure up on the leader for the whole race, and I think we got a lot of pace. It was just so difficult to overtake around here with the dirty air. A bit of a shame, but it was a really good race, to be honest. In Race 3, we had a good start, but then it began raining. A few drops maybe on lap 3, and then a torrential rainfall that flooded the circuit.”
Qualifying 1: P1 Fastest lap: 1:41.864
Qualifying 2: P1 Fastest lap: 1:41.576
Starting position Race 1: P1 Race 1: P1
Starting position Race 2: P3 Race 2: P2
Starting position Race 3: P3
#88 Salim Hanna
“I felt it was a pretty good week. We are having pace in all high-deg tracks, something I’m really happy about, it was a big step compared to the start of the year. I’ve been feeling really great in the car; it was really good, especially in qualifying. I’m really thankful to my team for the car. I think Race 1 was pretty good, as we took P2. In Race 2, I had a lot of deg on the tyres, so that cost me a little bit, and I finished P8. In the last race, we were P5 when the race was stopped. Overall, not a bad weekend. Now we’re going to low-deg tracks and I’ve got a good feeling about it!”
Qualifying 1: P3 Fastest lap: 1:42.215
Qualifying 2: P4 Fastest lap: 1:41.645
Starting position Race 1: P3 Race 1: P2
Starting position Race 2: P4 Race 2: P8
Starting position Race 3: P6
#98 Sebastian Wheldon
“Weekend completed. Race 1 was a bit difficult, we were struggling a bit with the car balance, but we got it fixed for Race 2, and we were able to finish P4. Unfortunately, in the last race I was leading, building a decent gap, but eventually the red flag came out because of the weather.”
Qualifying 1: P5 Fastest lap: 1:42.298
Qualifying 2: P5 Fastest lap: 1:41.762
Starting position Race 1: P5 Race 1: P6
Starting position Race 2: P5 Race 2: P4
Starting position Race 3: P2