PREMA Powerteam back to winning ways at Mugello

PREMA Powerteam put up a dominating performance in the penultimate round of the 2021 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine at Mugello. Estonian Paul Aron swept the event, storming from pole to victory twice, and fighting back to second place in the driver standings.

The 17-year-old Estonian delivered two flawless performances, leading from start to finish despite challenging re-starts in critical moments of both races. 

David Vidales and Dino Beganovic also spent time on the podium. The 19-year-old Spaniard took third place in race 1 with a really solid run to follow his P2 at Valencia. Unfortunately, grip issues in qualifying 2 forced him to start from the back, and he could only manage P15 in race 2.  On the other hand, Beganovic was rear-ended at the beginning of race 1 after starting from P2. The Swede fought back with a brilliant race 2 run. Starting from P3, he gained one spot right away to secure his maiden podium finish in the series. 

#1 PAUL ARON

“It was a mega weekend. We had great pace from free practice and the car was really good. I did a lot of work before the weekend to absolutely maximize what I had, and it worked very well. We took two poles and two wins, so I’m super super happy also for the team as they got back where they belong and for Dino who got his first podium after a difficult year. We will continue to work, I found my way back and I don’t want to ever lose it again so we can expect a strong weekend in Monza.”

Qualifying 1: P1

Qualifying 2: P1

Starting Grid Race 1: P1

Starting Grid Race 2:  P1

Fastest lap: 1’42″112

Fastest lap: 1’42″148

Race 1: P1

Race 2: P1

#12 DAVID VIDALES

“This weekend we managed to extract the absolute maximum from what we had. I think the podium in race 1 has been a bit of a miracle after an engine change on Friday didn’t make our life easy. But we fought hard and came home in P3. In qualifying 2 we were quite a bit off as I could never find the grip, and the same problem came back for the race where I struggled for grip compared to the drivers around me with a lower minimum corner speed than yesterday. Now we have to analyze the data to prepare for Monza.”

Qualifying 1: P9

Qualifying 2: P20

Starting Grid Race 1: P9

Starting Grid Race 2: P20

Fastest lap: 1’42″623

Fastest lap: 1’43″236

Race 1: P3

Race 2: P15

#17 DINO BEGANOVIC

“Qualifying 1 was good for the team, as we were P1 and P2. Then an incident not under my control put us out of race 1. It was heartbraking but that’s racing I guess. It was difficult to come back but we managed to do it  strong with P3 in qualifying 2 and with the first podium of the year in P2. I’m delighted and I really enjoyed the race today!”

Qualifying 1: P2

Qualifying 2: P3

Starting Grid Race 1: P2

Starting Grid Race 2: P3

Fastest lap: 1’42″228

Fastest lap: 1’42″148

Race 1: DNF

Race 2: P2

Source | Photo: PREMA Racing