Flashback: PREMA sweeps Barcelona honors with win in Bearman Feature Race

We are gearing up for Round 6 of the 2024 FIA Formula 2 campaign in Barcelona, ​​Spain as the title picture begins to emerge.

Ahead of the sixth race weekend of the year, we look back at the last visit to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for a race weekend, one that PREMA Racing thoroughly enjoyed.

ACCORDING TO HE POLE AGAIN

For the Italian outfit, Barcelona proved to be one of the team’s most successful weekends of the 2023 season. Frederik Vesti put in a measured performance on Saturday in a wet-to-dry sprint race to claim victory, while team-mate Oliver Bearman capitalized on his Pole Position and converted it to win the Feature Race on Sunday.

Friday’s qualifying session underlined PREMA’s growing momentum, as the Briton’s fastest effort ensured a PREMA driver started from pole for the third consecutive race weekend.

VESTIS WET WEATHER SPRINT WINS

Reverse grid Pole sitter Amaury Cordeel led the field from a rolling start through the spray. Eager to make up ground quickly, Vesti attempted a move on Jak Crawford at Turn 1, but the pair made contact, leaving the American driver out of the running with suspension damage.

The Dane continued on his way and was through for the lead on lap 2, clearing Cordeel from turn 10 after the Belgian ran wide. Victor Martins was clear of the Invicta Virtuosi driver on lap 4, braking late into turn 1 to take the spot.

Running wide at Turn 7, Cordeel dropped further on Lap 12 and fell from fifth to sixth as teammate Doohan took advantage. A spin into the gravel for Juan Manuel Correa on lap 20 brought a late Safety Car and wiped out Vesti’s six-second advantage over nearest challenger Martins. It gave everyone the chance to switch back to soft tyres, with the track dry enough for slicks.

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Vesti held the lead at the restart, but title contender Pourchaire was on the move. He was able to fire up the tires immediately and he passed Hauger for third going into Turn 1 before moving ahead of teammate Martins in Turn 4 to set his sights on the championship leader.

With just three laps to go, Vesti held on to take back-to-back wins following his Monte Carlo Feature win, with the ART duo rounding out the podium.

BEARMAN VICTORIOUS IN FUNCTION

Saturday’s rain was clear on Sunday and Bearman nearly held off Fittipaldi from the Feature Race pole through the opening corners. The fast-starting Pourchaire was up to third by Turn 4, challenging the Brazilian for P2 after starting fifth.

The ART driver was first in for a mandatory pit stop on lap 10, rejoining in No. 17 on the road. Fittipaldi pitted the following lap to prevent an undercut, rejoining the Frenchman by less than a second to remain ahead.

Bearman stayed on track until lap 14 when he finally pitted to swap his soft tires for the hard compound. He came four seconds ahead of Fittipaldi, leaving Martins and teammate Vesti in first and second, running the alternative strategy and running first and second.

Bruno Michel’s column: Both championships take shape ahead of the upcoming triple header

That remained the case until Vesti finally came in on lap 25 to match the softs, filtering out in ninth just behind Hauger. Martins stayed out for another lap, and it paid off as he rejoined ahead of team-mate Pourchaire and, crucially, clear of Vesti as he battled Hauger and a yet-to-be-placed Zane Maloney. A lap later and Vesti made a pass on title contender Pourchaire to take sixth position.

After clearing Doohan, Martins moved up the podium with a pass on Ayumu Iwasa at Turn 1 on lap 35. Vesti was glued to the DAMS driver’s rear wing but was unable to find a way through the top four before the end.

Up front, Bearman was peerless as he cruised to victory ahead of Fittipaldi, who had to fend off Martin’s late charge to retain second. The Brit’s win was PREMA’s third straight Feature Race win in a phase of the season where they looked unstoppable on Sundays.

The team left Barcelona with both championship leads extended, as Vesti edged out Pourchaire by 11 points, 110 and 99 respectively while the team’s advantage over ART grew to 36.