The first event of the new category saw Campos Racing solidly fighting for rostrums with Martí and Lovinfosse. Cáceres made a positive debut on the international motorsport scene with remarkable progress
Campos Racing got the taste of the podium during the curtain-raiser event of F1 Academy category at Red Bull Ring. The Spanish-based racing team rapidly found the rhythm with Nerea Martí, Lola Lovinfosse and Maite Cáceres at the wheel of their Tatuus-Autotecnica machinery. Both Martí and Lovinfosse challenged for podium finishes in all three races and Cáceres, with less experience at the highest level, also improved every time she got on the track.
On Friday, Lovinfosse and Martí posted rather competitive lap times in morning’s free practice sessions. Later in qualifying, Martí was in contention for the pole-position during the whole Q1 despite extremely difficult wet conditions. Finally, the Spaniard was fourth-fastest with her lap time of 1m43.547s. Lovinfosse took seventh spot with a best lap time of 1m44.772s and, more importantly, she secured a front-row start on the reverse grid for race 2. In Q2, who defined the starting grid for race 3, Martí clocked a lap time of 1m44.845s. Lovinfosse and Cáceres experienced a difficult qualifying session and should be start from the back in race 3.
All the three races took place on Saturday. When the lights went out, Martí moved up to second behind Marta García. On lap five, the driver of Campos Racing took the lead after overtaking García. It was a close battle between both Spaniard for the lead with García retaking P1 three laps later. At the end of the 30-minute race, Martí took the checkered flag in second place. Unfortunately, she was disqualified later as her car was found in compliance with the technical regulations due to a minor breach with no performance gain. Lovinfosse crossed the finish line in ninth place, with Uruguay’s Cáceres two positions further adrift.
Frenchwoman Lovinfosse produced her best result of the weekend in race 2. From 2nd on the starting grid, Lovinfosse ran in the top-three the whole race. She took the third place on the rostrum after 12 laps, with her teammate Martí finishing right behind in fourth place. Cáceres came in 13th place this time.
The final race had another strong run coming from Campos Racing. Martí spearheaded the Spanish team effort and brought a fifth-place result home. Lovinfosse ended up in 13th place ahead of Cáceres.
The second round of the F1 Academy will take place in Valencia next weekend, the home round of Campos Racing.
