The two opening races of the FIA F.3 European Championship weekend at Pau handed Prema Powerteam a double podium finish in a wet race 1 as well as several top-10 and points finishes.

The Italian squad has all their four drivers in the top-6 in standings, led by Maximilian Gunther and Lance Stoll. In race 1, Nick Cassidy and Gunther put up a great show and ended up respectively in second and third place, while Stroll grabbed a valuable fourth position for his championship quest in race 2.

Ralf Aron, making his debut on a streetcourse, captured a promising sixth place in the second race of the day.

# 1 - Lance Stroll:

“Unfortunately I didn’t start well from the pole and fell back to ninth place, so I just focused in completing the race without making mistakes which would have been easy to make given the weather. I held onto ninth place and scored two points. In the following race I was starting from row 2, I move to fifth place on the opening lap and finished fourth. As happened in race 1, the most important thing was not to make mistake and collect as many points as possible for the standings where I’m now second”.

# 2 - Nick Cassidy:

“It was my first time at Pau and I’m delighted for bringing home a second place in race 1. At the start I was behind Maximilian, and took advantage of a safety-car condition to pass him at the re-start. The manouver carried some risks considering the weather, but eventually succeeded. In race 2 I touched with Ralf at the start but we continued. Then I made contact with the guard-rail and the following puncture brought me back to the pits, depriving me of any chance to score points”.

# 16 - Ralf Aron:

“I’m satisfied with the points finish I got in race 2 with the sixth place. I had a contact with Nick at the start and we both lost a couple of positions, but the car was extremely quick… perfect. In the first race the asphalt was wet and it’s been tough. Starting from the back, I tried not to make mistakes and the 13th place is ok. I’d say that this has been a positive learning day considering that this was is the first time for me on this kind of track and that the weather conditions were extremely variable”.

# 17 - Maximilian Günther:

“In Race 1, my start has been positive as I moved up behind Barnicoat although I wasn’t able to keep his pace. After Nick moved on me at the re-start from the safety-car, I focused in bringing home the podium which means valuable points that keep me on top in standings. In the second race I started from the back and didn’t have huge hopes of a top-10 finish. I also touched with Mazepin and had to go back to the pits, losing even more time”.

Canadians In BOLD