PREMA Racing delivered a solid effort at Imola, as the FIA Formula 3 Championship got back on the team’s home soil. Coming from a challenging run so far, especially in qualifying, the team made clear progress and was even able to challenge for the top-5.
In the end, Ugo Ugochukwu delivered a positive seventh place. The American, who had an off in practice, quickly rebounded from the incident and maximized his potential with a good starting position in both races. The same goes for Noel Leon, who ended up in the trail of his teammate in P8 and has a chance to secure a valuable amount of points in the races.
Despite ending up in P15 at the end, Brando Badoer was in contention for the leading spots for most of the session. However, as everyone came back after a late red flag, the Italian found himself in heavy traffic and could not continue his positive run. He and the team will continue to target further steps forward for the rest of the weekend.
#1 BRANDO BADOER
"There are a lot of positives to take from today's qualy. The pace improved a lot compared to the previous races, and I was leading the pack after using the first two sets of tyres. Then I got unlucky with the third one, finding a bunch of traffic in front of me, so it was not good, and even out of the reverse grid. It's a real shame, but at least we proved we can be up there."
#2 NOEL LEON
"It has been a much better qualifying session than the previous ones this year. I'm really happy with the progress that the team has made. We kept the car in a better window, and from now on, we can start to work on the details we need to be at the front. I'm really looking forward to the races."
#3 UGO UGOCHUKWU
"We ended the day quite positively. I had a little off at the end of FP, but we bounced back from that, and I really thank the team for putting the car back together. Qualifying was good, and I was improving in every lap as we made a big step forward compared to Bahrain, and at the end, I managed to get P7. I think we can score good points out of the starting positions we have."