PREMA Racing secures podiums, race 3 win at Nürburgring
PREMA Racing experienced a positive weekend at the Nürburgring as the legendary German track was home to round 4 of the ADAC-promoted German Formula 4 Championship. The team fielded a five strong line-up headlined by championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli and featuring the most recent addition to the team, American Ugo Ugochukwu.
However, it was Australian rookie James Wharton who kept the winning momentum high for the team. The Ferrari Driver Academy member cruised to victory in race 3 by opening an early gap and leading teammate Conrad Laursen to the finish. For him, it was the first European win after his positive F4 UAE campaign coming after two top-5 finishes earlier in the weekend.
Kimi Antonelli also secured a double podium finish with P2 in race 1 and 2. The Italian crossed the finish line of the opening race in P1 but was penalised for a jump start and that demoted him to second place. He then repeated the same result in race 2 and finished P4 in the reverse-grid race 3.
Laursen maximised his weekend and went from a fifth and a sixth place to a podium, while Charlie Wurz could not fight his way to the rostrum despite a really quick qualifying pace. The Austrian eventually wrapped up three points finishes, including a fourth place.
Last but not least, new PREMA driver Ugochukwu increased his experience throughout the weekend as he adjusted to a new environment. The 15-year-old American put up a steady progression moving from P9 in race 1 to a seventh-place finish in race 2, and eventually P6 in race 3.
#7 CHARLIE WURZ
“We really had a strong pace through free practice and qualifying, and had the potential to be on pole. However, we struggled a lot for race pace, which is something we need to analyse and understand before we go into the next round of the Italian championship at Red Bull Ring.”
Qualifying 1: P2
Qualifying 2: P3
Starting Grid Race 1: P2
Starting Grid Race 2: P3
Starting Grid Race 3: P5
Fastest lap: 1:27.871
Fastest lap: 1:27.597
Race 1: P6
Race 2: P4
Race 3: P7
#12 ANDREA KIMI ANTONELLI
“A tougher weekend than usual. We struggled a bit at the beginning with the driving and the car’s setup. However, I think we did a good job trying to improve it, and in race conditions we were much closer or even faster in terms of pace. I made a mistake in race 1 with a jump start, and was not the luckiest in race 2 and 3, so we could not capitalise, but that only makes me more motivated for the next races.”
Qualifying 1: P1
Qualifying 2: P2
Starting Grid Race 1: P1
Starting Grid Race 2: P2
Starting Grid Race 3: P7
Fastest lap: 1:27.667
Fastest lap: 1:27.615
Race 1: P2
Race 2: P2
Race 3: P4
#13 JAMES WHARTON
“Nurburgring is done, and I finally got my first win in Europe! I can’t thank everyone enough for the hard work in the first half of the season. Now it’s time to recharge and get ready for the second part of the year.”
Qualifying 1: P5
Qualifying 2: P5
Starting Grid Race 1: P5
Starting Grid Race 2: P5
Starting Grid Race 3: P4
Fastest lap: 1:28.012
Fastest lap: 1:27.631
Race 1: P4
Race 2: P5
Race 3: P1
#16 UGO UGOCHUKWU
“It was a positive first weekend with Prema at Nurburgring. It is a challenging track, but i feel we made good progress throughout the weekend and improved each race.”
Qualifying 1: P5
Qualifying 2: P6
Starting Grid Race 1: P5
Starting Grid Race 2: P6
Starting Grid Race 3: P2
Fastest lap: 1:28.377
Fastest lap: 1:27.949
Race 1: P9
Race 2: P7
Race 3: P6
#20 CONRAD LAURSEN
“It was not the weekend I was hopping for, although we finished with a podium in the end. I think we could have gone for the victory if the gap hadn’t been made early, but after that, It was always going to be difficult. Qualifying was a bit of a struggle, and that led to race 1 and 2 not ending up well position wise.
Qualifying 1: P6
Qualifying 2: P7
Starting Grid Race 1: P4
Starting Grid Race 2: P7
Starting Grid Race 3: P3
Fastest lap: 1:28.318
Fastest lap: 1:28.051
Race 1: P5
Race 2: P6
Race 3: P2
Source | Photo: PREMA Racing