Ollie Bearman is looking forward to a better weekend with PREMA Racing in Jeddah after a ‘strong qualifying session’ where he placed second on the front row. After a debut weekend full of ups and downs for the team in Bahrain, the British rookie arrived at Jeddah ready to improve.
Despite a strong qualifying result for himself and the PREMA team, Bearman felt both himself and the car had more potential. “I think I could have delivered an even better lap, maybe not enough for pole, but I was very happy with the car anyway.”
Victor Martins, the 2022 FIA Formula 3 Champion, topped Qualifying, 0.744 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Bearman stayed in the fight for the front row throughout the session, despite pushing the car extremely close to the wall at the final corner of his flying lap.
The 17-year-old driver managed to put his PREMA in second during his first qualifying session at a street circuit.
Arthur Leclerc stopped on track to bring out the red flag, ending the session completely. This meant many drivers were unable to finish their flying-lap or begin a new one. Seemingly, this worked in favour for some, but against many in the field.
“We can start our championship and finally score some points […] I think we can come through in the Sprint Race” Bearman added.
In the Sprint Race he will start eighth due to the reverse grid format, ahead of his team mate Frederik Vesti who qualified seventh but carries a five place grid penalty from Bahrain.
Both drivers aim to make up places and bring home a good amount of points for PREMA’s championship tally which they missed the opportunity to add to in Bahrain. Formula 2 fans worldwide will see how they fair in both the Sprint Race and Feature Race later on this weekend.
Image: Joan Codina
