Stromsted hopeful ahead of Imola Feature Race after impressive Sprint showing

Noah Stromsted was very enthused about his and TRIDENT’s speed in the Imola Sprint Race as the Dane went from 10th to sixth and secured the fastest lap along the way.

The Mercedes Junior Team driver collected several positions with a strong opening lap, avoiding the usual chaos around the tight and old-school Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

Speaking after returning to the paddock, Stromsted was pleased to have avoided any trouble throughout the Sprint, achieving strong points for his and the team’s season.

“It was a good race. Quite a few cars went off in front of me at the start so that was a few free positions. I just had to overtake Tuukka, but our pace was very good.

“Our tyre management was very good too, so our pace was very good throughout the whole race.”

The Saturday race was an intriguing battle with the DRS effect a huge bonus for the drivers chasing a rival ahead.

With a train of cars inside the top 10 able to stay within the one second window to the driver ahead, attacking and defending became a knife-edge balancing act throughout.

Stromsted says that he was learning with every lap, along with the requirements to make the Pirelli tyres last to the very end. He appeared to get a good grasp on the latter, earning the fastest lap point on the final tour.

“It’s quite difficult, especially when you’re in the slipstream train, because if you do a small mistake or save too much, you could easily lose a position.

“I’m learning every weekend. This is the first Championship I’ve done where you have to really save some energy in the tyres.

“In the straights, I was a bit more aggressive at the start. After the second Safety Car I think a lot of the people in front were pushing a bit too hard. I tried to just keep my tyres in a good window and in the end, others dropped off quite a bit.”

Looking ahead to the final race of the weekend and Sunday’s Feature event, Stromsted says that the team’s performance in the Sprint bodes well for what’s to come.

Starting from third on the grid directly behind teammate Rafael Câmara, the Italian team are aiming for another strong result early in the 2025 campaign, this time on home soil.

The Dane is of course also targeting a first race victory in the Championship on Sunday.

He said that the tyres should not be as big a factor in that pursuit as thought at the beginning of the weekend, based on the data gathered in the Sprint.

“I think we learned that the tyres hold on in general a bit longer in the races. We don’t believe tyre wear will be so big for tomorrow as we thought at first. The pace today looked really good after setting the fastest lap of the race on the final lap.

“I’ll be going for a podium and win. The pace today looked very strong but tomorrow’s a different day, so we’ll see.”