Interview
Ticking off all their objectives: PREMA Racing Pre-season review
PREMA Racing Team Manager Goffredo Pirro says the three days of pre-season testing in Barcelona have put his team in a strong position heading to Round 1 in Melbourne.
The Italian outfit completed 644 laps across the test – the most by any team on the grid – with James Wharton, Louis Sharp and José Garfias working through their run plans well.
For Pirro, PREMA had several different objectives for the test, one of those being to get their drivers up to speed, and also to pick up from where they left of last year – where they achieved four podiums across the final four rounds.
“We're quite happy,” said Pirro reflecting on the test. “The two objectives were one, get to know the drivers. We have one new driver that we have to get to know from scratch.
“The other two, we are bringing them back into the team after the winter. Objective completed. Second was to confirm how we finished last year.
“We're quite happy. There are a few points to work on, but we showed a little bit what we wanted to show.
“In terms of performance, PREMA is where we finished in Monza. The technical aspect is the same. There haven't been that many technical changes.
“But we're working hard to make sure that things are as positive as we can make them. We're reasonably optimistic for the start of the season.”
Wharton and Sharp are returning for their second seasons in Formula 3, with the former coming back to the team he raced for in his first three campaigns in single seaters from 2022.
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As for Sharp, it is his first year with PREMA, and he completed 218 laps – the most in the team – looking to get up to speed ahead of the trip to Melbourne.
The two drivers have a strong friendship, something Pirro says has brought a great dynamic into the team, with the duo also fairly evenly matched on the timesheets.
In addition to that, Garfias joined the team for the first time prior to the tests, and his boss was delighted with how well he ingratiated himself within the group.
“The team dynamic is very good,” revealed Pirro. “James and Louis are good friends, which is good on most days.
“It might be a negative thing someday, but we're happy. José also joined the team very late, but he fit right in. He's a nice guy. He's working hard.
“Overall, in that aspect, we are already happy. From the performance perspective, we can see a little bit later on when we start racing, but it's a good start.”
Racing starts in Melbourne from March 6-8, a track where PREMA enjoy a strong history.
In 2023, Zak O’Sullivan won the Sprint Race, and he was joined on the podium by Paul Aron, who finished third, while in 2024, Dino Beganovic won the Feature.
Last year, Ugo Ugochukwu qualified eighth for them in the first Qualifying in this generation of Formula 3 car. For Pirro though, the aim is not to replicate what they did at the start of last year, but to better it.
“We made a step forward in the middle of last year,” he added. “In the first rounds, we had some ups and downs. The idea is not to start where we started, it's to start where we left off. If we start where we left off, we're happy.”