The home round for PREMA Racing was an extremely successful one in the F1 Academy series at Monza. The team posted two wins with Marta Garcia in race 1 and Bianca Bustamante in race 2, with generally a great pace across the board on the extremely fast Italian circuit.

Race 1 saw the Spaniard deliver an exciting run as she battled at the front from pole and defended in a run shortened by an early crash to prevail by just 0.009s. Garcia then secured two more points finishes, including a valuable P5 after being hit from behind and falling out of the top-5.

Bustamante put up a stellar showing. After being involved in the early Race 1 crash, she made a massive recovery from P9 on the grid for Race 2 to take second place. In Race 3, the Filipina started from second place and got the nod of a superb battle for the lead, which she eventually carried on until the finish.

Choe Chong came twice close to a points finish in P11 and P9 respectively before being involved in a tangle on race 3. The British-Canadian still showed great pace with a fastest lap and also improved her race craft throughout the whole weekend.

With the results of Monza, Garcia made crucial gains in her championship lead, while Bustamante got closer and closer to the top-5 in points.

14 CHLOE CHONG

“I think we had a pretty good pace, and it was showing. We struggled a bit in qualifying with the mixed conditions, locking up in the first qualy and not having a slipstream in the second when everyone had a big one. The first race was really progressive, we put in some solid laps and were quite close to points. We still finished outside but we could have got into with one more lap. To have my first fastest lap in F1 Academy is a great feeling and definitely brought a lot of confidence in race 2. We made some very solid overtakes, I think we went up to P8, behind Marta, just following and waiting to make moves together. However, I was hit from behind and fell back a bit. We finished P9, once again one spot away from points. In Race 3, we had a very good start, unfortunate for the incident in turn one. I had to play catchup after that and lost a bit of slipstream. The safety car restart was quite good but the following lap, I had a car coming across which resulted in a crash. Quite happy with this weekend, we learned a lot about the racing, and actually, we had a very good pace.”

Qualifying 1: P13
Qualifying 2: P12
Starting position Race 1: P13
Starting position Race 2: P12
Starting position Race 3: P12
Fastest lap: 1:56.236
Fastest lap: 1:54.258
Race 1: P11
Race 2: P9
Race 3: DNF

15 MARTA GARCIA

“We won the first race, and it was tough because I had to defend all race. Then in the second one, we started from P8, and I was thinking about the bigger picture, being too conservative also because it was a crazy race. I didn’t want to risk it too much and we ended up 6th, not a great result, but still got three points. In race 3 we just tried to go for it, to reach the top-3 at least as I knew it could have been possible. The start was not great and I lost some momentum, and then on lap 3 I was hit in the back by another competitor and sent spinning. I was out of the top 10 but I could recover up to P5. I’m not 100% happy, but it’s OK because I scored some more points for the championship.”

Qualifying 1: P1
Qualifying 2: P4
Starting position Race 1: P1
Starting position Race 2: P8
Starting position Race 3: P4
Fastest lap: 1:54.151
Fastest lap: 1:53.430
Race 1: P1
Race 2: P6
Race 3: P5

16 BIANCA BUSTAMANTE

“I don’t even know where to begin! After qualy, my morale was really down but this is my favorite track, and I wanted to fight back where we should be, fighting in the front. From P9 to P2 in race 2, I made a good race, but still made some errors to work on and that’s what I truly focused on. I just enjoyed every lap in Race 3. I knew the pace was there, I had to put everything together and be smart. That’s what got me the win, and it is really beautiful to win in Monza, a home win for the team, and to hear fans chanting my name was an amazing feeling. I’m really thankful for this very big achievement. One step closer to my goal.”

Qualifying 1: P9
Qualifying 2: P2
Starting position Race 1: P9
Starting position Race 2: P9
Starting position Race 3: P2
Fastest lap: 1:55.394
Fastest lap: 1:53.094
Race 1: P10
Race 2: P8
Race 3: P5

Source | Photo: PREMA Racing