Mid-Season Testing to Commence in Aragon

The next F1 Academy test session gets underway in Spain this week as the teams and drivers look to get some valuable time behind the wheel at MotorLand Aragón, before heading to Circuit Zandvoort for Round 4 in one week’s time.

As we approach the halfway point in the season, PREMA Racing’s Marta García leads the standings with 135 points, ahead of her nearest challenger Hamda Al Qubaisi on 94 points.

The third round at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya saw two maiden wins in the series, as MP Motorsport’s Emely de Heus and four-time podium sitter Léna Bühler both secured their first victories of the season. Alongside de Heus’ success in Race 1, a win for Emirati racer Amna Al Qubaisi in Race 2 helped push the Dutch squad to the top of the Teams’ Standings.

Rodin Carlin’s Abbi Pulling bounced back after a challenging start to the season with two podiums in two races in Barcelona. The Alpine Academy driver rounded out her best weekend of the season so far with a fourth-place finish in Race 3.

Meanwhile, Campos Racing’s #2 car of Lola Lovinfosse put on one of the best overtaking displays of the season at the Circuit Barcelona de-Catalunya, making her one of the standout performers of the weekend. Climbing from 10th to 5th in Race 3 was the highlight, as Lovinfosse achieved her highest points scoring round of the season.

From the paddock – Jessica Edgar, Rodin Carlin

“I feel for me the testing is very important as this is only my second year in car racing, and I didn’t do anywhere near as much seat time last year as I already have this year. I feel every time I go out, I get more confident in the car. As a team we can also develop setups to help us during race weekends.

“For me our biggest weakness is the setup at the minute, I do think there is always more time in the driver but the last couple of races we have struggled a lot with the setup of the car. In Aragón our main aim is to find out what the different changes on setup do to the car before Zandvoort so that we know what to do depending on what I am feeling in the car.

“The season so far hasn’t gone as planned for me; I think the first race was really good having a P3, but I think in the dry I struggle a lot more than the wet. Even though we haven’t had the best couple of rounds at Valencia and Barcelona, you definitely learn more from bad rounds than good rounds. So far, I am really enjoying the series and it is a great experience for me.”

From the paddock – Amna Al Qubaisi, MP Motorsport

“I feel like the testing days we get with F1 Academy are important because it gives us more mileage and more time to adapt to new setups and to be more and more comfortable with the car and the tracks we are competing on.

“Aragón will give us the chance to mainly work on the setups that have worked best for me and the car so far this season. So far this year it has been amazing and super beneficial to compete in F1 Academy. I have gained a lot of experience and learnt from my mistakes and took things as a positive. So definitely a well-fulfilled half season considering I haven’t been driving for a year."

Testing Stat Pack

• 58: Marta García did 58 laps in the morning session of Day 2 of Valencia testing, the most laps any driver has completed in a single testing session this year.
• 5.344km: MotorLand Aragón, the site of the two days of testing, is a 5.344km track located in Alcañiz, Spain.
• 9 & 10: These sessions will be the 9th and 10th days of testing of the season so far, with the teams taking part in a total of fifteen days across the season.
• 4: After the last round in Barcelona, only four points separate the top two teams in the competition, with MP Motorsport on 207 and Prema Racing on 203.
• 3: MP Motorsport are the only team to have all their drivers win a race, Amna Al Qubaisi has two wins to her name, and Hamda Al Qubaisi and Emely De Heus each have one.
• 28: Emely de Heus became only the second driver to score the maximum 28 points in a race after her win in Race 1 at Barcelona. She collected 25 points for the win, two for qualifying on pole and one for the fastest lap.