PREMA Racing keeps winning form at Imola

PREMA Racing continued to show winning form in the second round of the 2022 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, claiming one win and multiple podium finishes.

Dino Beganovic posted his second win of the year in Race 1. After practice was held under pouring rain, qualifying 1 featured an almost dry track, and the 18-year-old Swede secured a second-row start with P2 in his group. At the start, he quickly improved to P2 in a race that featured two red flags and two safety cars. After race control assessed a time penalty to the leader, he just focused on not making mistakes, and sailed to the eventual victory. In race 2, starting again from P3 on the grid, he delivered an incredible outside move to take second place, which he controlled until the end despite the worsening conditions. 

Estonian Paul Aron brought home P3 in race 1 with a solid run, and only the early interruption deprived him from a shot at P2. Aron then paid the price of a spin in Qualifying 2, and right at the start of the race, he was involved in a three-way contact with team-mate Sebastian Montoya. Aron eventually finished in P6, bringing home good points all things considered.

Montoya, who escaped injury in the race 2 incident, was coming from an excellent fourth place overall in race 1, his third rookie win of the year. The young Colombian-American showed the pace needed to fight for the overall honours again.

Lining up in complicated conditions at her second FRECA appearance, Hamda Al Qubaisi struggled with grip and visibility and focused on gaining mileage and experience. As well as Montoya, she will make her street racing debut at the end of the month in the support event to the Monte Carlo Grand Prix. 

“All in all it was an okay weekend. We did a good job in race 1, where we got good points by finishing third, and overall the pace was not too bad. We were missing a bit from pole, but we managed to score good points. However, Sunday was a bit more tricky as we didn’t maximise qualifying so it compromised our start for race 2. We still took the maximum result we could. It was a crazy race, and I have to thank the team for fixing my car during the red flag. In the end, we got P6 and some points. It was good to get them, but for sure we were missing a bit this weekend. Now let’s push for Monte Carlo.”

Qualifying 1: P3 Gr.A

Qualifying 2: P6 Gr.A

Starting Grid Race 1: P5

Starting Grid Race 2:  P11

Fastest lap: 1’39″677

Fastest lap: 1’40″062

Race 1: P3

Race 2: P6

“It’s a really good start of the season, I couldn’t have hoped for a better one. Race 1 with the victory, and Race 2 with P2 brought really good results and we are coming away with the championship lead once again. In race 1 I had a great run starting from P3. I got around Boya, and after that it was just managing as we got the message quite early that Minì had the time penalty. I’m really really happy with the victory, it’s a great start for the championship. It’s also particularly special because I took my first single-seater win on this track. Race 2 was really difficult because it started raining on the pre-grid, and there was a bit of confusion in terms of which tyres to use. I think everybody went for slicks. When it started raining, it became more complicated but I’m happy with how this tricky race ended.”

Qualifying 1: P2 Gr.A

Qualifying 2: P2 Gr.A

Starting Grid Race 1: P3

Starting Grid Race 2: P3

Fastest lap: 1’39″590

Fastest lap: 1’39″497

Race 1: P1

Race 2: P2

“Up and down of a week, literally! Testing was quite good, we learned a lot, and honestly, I felt quite confident going into the weekend. In FP1 and FP2 we were trying a couple of things, and we didn’t really show the speed that we had. However, we learned a lot, and Saturday was a dream day. I qualified P2 in group, almost my first pole position, and I was quite happy with that. Race 1 went well, I made some rookie mistakes and kept learning. Sunday was more challenging. In qualifying 2, the car was on point, but on my side, I think I could have done better, and then the race was complicated by the conditions. I was just unlucky and got caught up in somebody else’s mistake.”

Qualifying 1: P2 Gr.B

Qualifying 2: P6 Gr.B

Starting Grid Race 1: P4

Starting Grid Race 2: P12

Fastest lap: 1’39″773

Fastest lap: 1’39″904

Race 1: P4

Race 2: DNF

“It was a big learning curve for me, with many different conditions. I’m going to keep trying to improve with the team and work harder to get closer to the pace we need.”

Qualifying 1: P17 Gr.B

Qualifying 2: P18 Gr.B

Starting Grid Race 1: P34

Starting Grid Race 2: P36

Fastest lap: 1’41″240

Fastest lap: 1’41″179

Race 1: DNF

Race 2: P31

Source | Photo: PREMA Racing