GREAT LEARNING WEEKEND FOR LUKA SAMMALISTO IN BARCELONA
The Finnish driver took part in the last round of the Formula Winter Series in Barcelona to prepare the Italian F4 Championship campaign. The Barcelona circuit is notoriously demanding for tires, so Luka’s goal was to learn how to drive smooth.
Thursday’s practice was dedicated to finding the feeling with the car (which he hadn’t driven since January), then on Friday he began to study a smoother way to drive: it’s a very difficult process, but once learned it can bring huge benefits.
Qualifying has been very tricky because of rain. In Q1 Luka was the last to leave the pit lane and the numerous red flags made it impossible for him to complete a decent lap. In Q2 instead he managed to get a good lap, over a second faster than the previous one. The US Racing team provided Luka with a competitive car, but he didn’t feel like he’d extracted its full potential yet.
The track dried up in time for Race 1. Luka started P11 and managed to gain a position before turn one. Like everyone else, he drove aggressively in the first part of the race, so he had to manage the tires in the second half. Friday’s training turned out to be useful, but he couldn’t reach higher than P8. A good result, but Luka saw room for improvement.
On Sunday morning the asphalt was wet again for Race 2. He gained a position at the start, then the Safety Car came out. After the restart he made a small mistake at the Caixa and lost positions, which he masterfully regained thanks to his overtaking prowess. He crossed the finish line in the points, but he still didn’t feel perfect.
In the afternoon the sun finally came out and the track dried in time to put on the slicks in Race 3. Starting from P12 he made a great race and crossed the line in P9. Thanks to the set-up of the car, the pace was excellent, and the hard work done since Thursday on his driving certainly contributed.
Luka’s weekend ended with three races out of three in the points and, above all, he achieved his goal of learning to drive smoothly. Now he has an extra weapon to fight for the victory of the Italian F4 Championship.