PREMA Racing captured multiple podium finishes at Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, as the Italian Formula 4 Championship lined up for round 5, its second outside its native borders.

The challenging French venue, which is normally particularly tricky for drivers making their first appearances there, saw victory slip away from the team especially in race 3, when Aussie James Wharton dominated from pole until he suffered from a fuel pump issue in the last lap. He eventually nursed his car to come home second.

Tuukka Taponen had an extremely consistent weekend with a P4 and two podium finishes, in P3 and P2. He also secured three rookie wins. The Finn made a great step and now looks forward to the rest of the year with confidence.

Ugo Ugochukwu maximized his point score and his championship performance with two podiums and an additional points finish, after also securing a clean pole for Race 1. He was able to harvest a decent amount of points and trim his gap to P1 in standings.

On the other hand, championship leader Arvid Lindblad didn’t have the easiest run but he put up a stable performance and picked up points in all three races.

Rashid Al Dhaheri posted a points finish as he gained more experience and honed his racecraft in a very tricky environment. The Emirati fought hard and kept climbing his learning curve. It was a challenging event for Nicola Lacorte, who could not achieve a points finish he had the potential for, and for Aurelia Nobels. The Brazilian showed a positive race pace though and got a promising P12 in qualifying 1.

PREMA Racing will be back for round 6 of the Italian Championship and round 2 of the Euro4 series in September.

3 UGO UGOCHUKWU

“Overall a pretty solid weekend here in Paul Ricard, I managed pole in Q1 and P3 in Q2, so we had good starting positions for the races. In race 1 I didn’t manage to convert the pole into a win. I picked up a P2, and a P3 in race 2, so two podiums. Race 3 was a bit more difficult with less pace than the first two ones, so I had to settle for P5. Good points for the weekend. There’s a little break now and we’ll try to come back stronger at Mugello.”

Qualifying 1: P1
Qualifying 2: P3
Starting position Race 1: P1
Starting position Race 2: P3
Starting position Race 3: P4
Fastest lap: 2:04.988
Fastest lap: 2:04.708
Race 1: P2
Race 2: P3
Race 3: P5

8 TUUKKA TAPONEN

“It was quite a good improvement this weekend. We did a pretty good qualifying and we were also very consistent in the races. Good starts, good opening laps, I tried to do my best but unfortunately on this track it’s not easy to overtake. We made a great step forward and scored valuable points.”

Qualifying 1: P3
Qualifying 2: P4
Starting position Race 1: P3
Starting position Race 2: P4
Starting position Race 3: P3
Fastest lap: 2:05.167
Fastest lap: 2:04.979
Race 1: P4
Race 2: P2
Race 3: P3

13 JAMES WHARTON

“In qualifying, we ended up a bit further back from where we wanted for Race 1 and 2. Then Race 1 was ok, but I made a mistake on race 2 as I stalled on the grid. Race 3 was great until we had a fuel pump issue, but I’m happy with the pace. Now we go into the next round.”

Qualifying 1: P3
Qualifying 2: P2
Starting position Race 1: P3
Starting position Race 2: P2
Starting position Race 3: P1
Fastest lap: 2:05.416
Fastest lap: 2:04.708
Race 1: P3
Race 2: DNF
Race 3: P2

14 RASHID AL DHAHERI

“It was a tough weekend, not the best qualifying, but we were able to gain many positions during the races, and I got a points finish, overtaking many drivers. Overall it was a learning weekend especially on the overtaking side and managing the loss of downforce while following others. We will be able to take this to the next races.”

Qualifying 1: P16
Qualifying 2: P19
Starting position Race 1: P18
Starting position Race 2: P19
Starting position Race 3: P17
Fastest lap: 2:05.871
Fastest lap: 2:05.747
Race 1: P11
Race 2: P9
Race 3: P25

16 AURELIA NOBELS

“I’d say it was a challenging weekend here in Paul Ricard. We showed quite a good pace in the races, and we also had a very good qualy 1 in P12. The second session was a bit tricky with traffic. Anyway, in the first race we showed great pace and finished in P14, but we were put out of contention by contact after making a good start in race 2. Race 3 was very complicated, starting from P26, but we came back to P20 still with a good pace and consistency. Now we will focus on the next events.”

Qualifying 1: P12
Qualifying 2: P21
Starting position Race 1: P12
Starting position Race 2: P21
Starting position Race 3: P26
Fastest lap: 2:05.765
Fastest lap: 2:05.848
Race 1: P14
Race 2: DNF
Race 3: P20

23 ARVID LINDBLAD

“A difficult weekend here in Paul Ricard, we didn’t have the pace we wanted, which made it more difficult from qualifying. We got P9 and P5 in the two sessions, and P6 for race 3. It was difficult to pass in the races, and I didn’t have a great pace. I was able to move up a couple of positions in them, but not enough. Still, we got decent points for the championship and we are in a good position going into Mugello.”

Qualifying 1: P9
Qualifying 2: P5
Starting position Race 1: P9
Starting position Race 2: P5
Starting position Race 3: P6
Fastest lap: 2:05.569
Fastest lap: 2:05.054
Race 1: P8
Race 2: P4
Race 3: P6

47 NICOLA LACORTE

“The weekend didn’t start so well as in Q1 we weren’t fast as we wanted, but in Q2 we managed to put a good lap together. Starting a bit behind in race 1, we had contact and that also impacted the outcome of the second race and we had another tricky one in race 3.”

Qualifying 1: P19
Qualifying 2: P7
Starting position Race 1: P19
Starting position Race 2: P9
Starting position Race 3: P20
Fastest lap: 2:05.948
Fastest lap: 2:05.257.
Race 1: P32
Race 2: P12
Race 3: P16

Source | Photo: PREMA Racing