Logan Sargeant takes P4 in challenging qualifying session
It hasn’t been an easy qualifying session for PREMA Racing at Spa-Francorchamps. The mighty Belgian venue saw teams and drivers run in dry conditions at the start, but an early red flag interrupted the first series of runs. That added up to huge traffic at the restart, and not too much later, Spa made good on its reputation so the first raindrops started to appear.
As a result, the most competitive times were the ones set before the stoppage and, without having the chance to improve with their second sets of tyres, the PREMA Racing drivers could not fight for pole.
Logan Sargeant got out of the session with a positive fourth place, which will guarantee him a row 2 start for tomorrow’s race 1, while his teammates ended up slightly adrift while still into the top-10. Australian racer Oscar Piastri finished in P8, right in front of Dane Frederik Vesti.
While qualifying left a lot to be desired, the potential is still there for the races, as Spa-Francorchamps notably provides great chances for passing and recovering.
#1 OSCAR PIASTRI
“A very typical Spa session where it rained halfway through. It was a mess with the traffic in the first run so I didn’t set a lap before the red flag. Then the second lap was still a mess with traffic, so my positioning wasn’t ideal. It wasn’t the best lap and it was the only lap I had, so I didn’t really get to show any potential today. If there’s a track where qualifying doesn’t matter too much is probably here and Monza so I’m still confident for tomorrow. I think our pace should still be good. Hopefully, we can make our way forward tomorrow. “
Qualifying: P8
Fastest lap: 2:06.206
#2 FREDERIK VESTI
“I’m definitely not happy with P9. In practice, the potential was really good, posted some good laps and gained great data. We were going into qualifying very confident with the car. I had a decent first lap, but could not complete it becauseof the red flag. Then we went out for the second one and it was just a big mess with traffic. Everyone was backing off, some others pushing, and I ended up being very compromised in my lap. I finished it behind two other people, and I had to back out multiple times. It’s definitely not ideal, but looking at what happened, P9 is actually decent and we can definitely overtake on this track. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Qualifying: P9
Fastest lap: 2:06.315
#3 LOGAN SARGEANT
“It has been a completely messy session, I don’t think I could have done much more. The car felt really good today, and I think we had as good a chance as anyone to try and get the pole. Anyway, I’m looking forward to tomorrow, we can work from P4 and we’ll look to get the win.”
Qualifying: P4
Fastest lap: 2:06.079
Source | Photo: PREMA Racing