PREMA Racing shows pace in impossibly close Styrian qualifying

PREMA Racing brought home another positive performance at Red Bull Ring in qualifying for round 2 of the FIA Formula 2 Championship. The team lined-up for the second time in two weeks at the up-and-down Austrian venue and, despite the different tires used, the performance confirmed a high-level pace by both drivers.

At the end of the day, Robert Shwartzman posted the sixth fastest laptime, good for a third row start, but the Russian racer was less than two tenths of a second away from pole in an impossibly close 20-car pack covered by just 0.9 seconds.

Mick Schumacher finished P9, making the most out of his track time after an off in practice. The 21-year-old German showed great potential and is looking forward to a smooth feature race tomorrow. Precipitations might become an added variable for race 1, so some surprises might be in order.

On a side note, PREMA Racing is proud and delighted to have learned about the addition of Mugello to the F1, F2 and F3 schedule. A second home race will boost the motivation even more than usual and will make for a sensational experience.

#20
MICK SCHUMACHER

“21 of the 22 drivers were within one second – this shows how close the field was again today. Considering that I completely missed the free practice session after my ride into the gravel, P9 is a decent starting position. We’re expecting a wet race tomorrow, so the grid position might not be as crucial as usual. Either way we will try to use our good race pace and make up as many places as possible.”

Qualifying: P9
Fastest lap: 1:15.141

#21
ROBERT SHWARTZMAN

“In practice, we suffered from some issues with the car balance, but we improved for qualifying, and the car felt really good. With the supersoft tires, which were completely new to me, I was a little too conservative and I’m not super happy about my performance. I could have pushed harder, but I didn’t know the limit of the tires. It’s something to learn for the future. Still, we’re in quite a good position. We know that the feature race is long and there is rain coming probably, so it’s going to be interesting. We have to do our job to get another podium or even better a win. Now it’s time to analyze everything and prepare ourselves for tomorrow.”

Qualifying: P6
Fastest lap: 1:14.978

Source | Photo: Media PREMA Racing

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