R01 Bahrain – FIA Formula 3 Race Preview
PREMA Racing will line up for the opening round of the FIA Formula 3 Championship this weekend at Bahrain International Circuit. The series will finally race at the middle eastern venue after the cancellation of the 2020 opener, and collective testing gave teams a chance to gain mileage and experience.
The PREMA team will consist of Paul Aron, Dino Beganovic and Zak O’Sullivan, representing three different Formula 1 academy programmes.
Estonian Aron will drive the #1 car and will represent the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Junior Team. The 19-year-old racer is moving up from Formula Regional together with Beganovic. Supported by the Ferrari Driver Academy, the 18-year-old Swede has been appointed to drive the #2 car and is the reigning Formula Regional European Champion. The #3 car will be entitled to O’Sullivan. A Williams Driver Academy member, O’Sullivan made his series debut last year and has joined PREMA for his second attempt. Unlike his teammates, he has already raced in Bahrain, and experienced a positive 3-day collective pre-season test.
The weekend at the Bahrain venue will feature only day sessions.
Rene Rosin – Team Principal
“We are ready for another year in Formula 3 which is where we started 40 years ago, so we are naturally looking forward to the start of the season. We have three highly-skilled drivers with different characters and experiences, so I think we got our bases covered really well. Last season showed us that every single point can make the difference in this highly competitive championship, so our goal is to start collecting solid results right from the start with all three cars. The testing experience has been positive and we feel we are prepared to see where 2023 will take us.”
Weekend Timetable*
Friday, February 3rd, 2023
10:55 – Practice 1
16:00 – Qualifying 2
Saturday, February 4th, 2023
12:15 – Race 1
Sunday, February 5th, 2023
11:50 – Race 2
Local time (GMT+3)
Source | Photo: PREMA Racing