Interview
Sticking to the plan: AIX Racing Pre-Season Review
AIX Racing Team Manager Kenny Kirwan feels his team has had a productive pre-season, getting their drivers up to speed ahead of Round 1 in Melbourne.
Kirwan’s team completed 513 laps across the test, and when times were at their quickest on the morning of Day 2, Brad Benavides was sixth with a 1:27.471, just over four-tenths off P1.
In addition to that, AIX spent a lot of time getting rookies, Yevan David and Fernando Barrichello, up to speed in F3 – with the former completing 159 laps and the latter 187.
For Kirwin, all those laps completed represent a nice way to start the 2026 campaign.
“I think it's been a productive outing,” said Kirwan. “We've managed to tick off a lot of things from our run plan and our objectives.
“Day one really was just shaking everything down again. It's been a while since the team has been out operationally and the drivers, particularly Brad and Fefo, they haven't driven a car for a number of months.
“But we're pretty satisfied. Brad's always been there or thereabouts, as we would have expected really.
“We will regroup again next week and spend the majority of the time on our simulator, just correlating and working towards Melbourne.”
On how his two rookies performed in Barcelona, Kirwan said: “I think consistency is really key and it's one area that for sure they both need to be on top of and to manage.
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“Hence, why we are regrouping before Melbourne, just making sure that sort of discipline, attention to detail and consistency is something that we can call upon.
“We'll use the simulator to help manage that along, and then we will hopefully be in a decent place. But it's not an overnight thing.”
With the margins so tight in Formula 3, Kirwan was asked whether AIX were keeping an eye on their rivals. While he acknowledges it is natural to look at the times, they do not spend a great deal of time worrying about what the other teams are doing.
“I mean, testing is obviously great,” he said. “However, it is qualifying in Melbourne that's going to dictate a lot of it.
“You don't know what the teams are doing exactly. It's less strict just in terms of when you want to go out. So I'm mindful that we don't really look, we have to throw our eye over.
“It’s a super competitive championship with really strong teams and really strong drivers. So it would be foolish not to. But at the same time, we can't get distracted by others, by what other people are doing.
“So we stick to our plan. We take away what we can from it. But I believe at the end of the day, if we're disciplined, if we go through all the procedures as a team operationally and with the drivers, that consistency really will always pay off.”
When asked whether consistency was the big focus for AIX this year, Kirwan replied: “That and minimising mistakes, maximising from other people's mistakes, and just taking advantage, basically, of the form.
“For sure, in the middle of the season, we have June and July, which are big, big, heavy months. I think consistency in those periods of time, if you're behind the curve there, the majority of the championship is in two months.
“So if you're behind the curve, it's going to bite you. So a big, big push for us is just consistency.”