Spielberg Preview: The battle heads to the hills

The second round of the triple header sees the teams and their drivers head to Spielberg for Round 6 of this fascinating 2024 season.
Barcelona served up a treat as home favourite Mari Boya won the Sprint Race while Arvid Lindblad became the first repeat winner of the year in the Feature.
But that is now the past with focus placed firmly on Spielberg this week. So, here is all you need to know ahead of this weekend’s action.
THE FORM BOOK
The Drivers’ Championship lead has once again changed hands with Trident driver Leonardo Fornaroli’s run to P3 in the Barcelona Feature Race putting him back at the top of the Standings with 84 points.
Trailing him by five points is Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Luke Browning, who he overtook on the final lap of the race.
Following them are the PREMA Racing trio of Gabriele Minì, who sits on 72 points after going without scoring in Barcelona, Arvid Lindblad – who claimed victory in the Barcelona Feature Race – and Dino Beganovic.
Campos Racing’s Oliver Goethe is sixth with 63 points after also enjoying a strong weekend in Barcelona, where finished third in the Sprint Race.
ART Grand Prix driver Christian Mansell also took home silverware after finishing second in the Feature, and he moves up to seventh in the Standings on 56 points.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
In the Teams’ Standings, PREMA continue to set the pace out front and with Lindblad’s victory in Barcelona, move onto 208 points, with second-placed Trident trailing their Italian rivals by 68 points.
ART Grand Prix are third with 117 points, but are closely followed by Campos Racing, the Spanish outfit just two points further back in fourth, with Hitech rounding out the top five on 96.
FROM THE GRID – Sophia Floersch, Van Amersfoort Racing
“The Red Bull Ring is one my favourite tracks on the calendar because it’s kind of my home race. Even though it’s in Austria, it’s closest to Munich and I just love the layout to be honest. It’s not just quick corners but also pretty slow ones, and you can race there which is fun because you have three DRS zones and three good possibilities to overtake.
“The races are never boring that’s why I like Spielberg. Also on the other side, the weather can be anything. It can be sunny but if it’s raining the clouds can also be stuck in the mountains and it pulls down.
“We’ve seen before that it can be really messy with traffic and impeding in Qualifying and I think that’s going to be a challenge this year because everyone tries to get a slipstream for the long straights, especially up the hill. People don’t know but it’s actually really steep heading up to Turn 3. We will see but at the Red Bull Ring everything needs to fall into place.
WHERE TO WATCH US?
“For sure Turns 2, 3 and 4 are the biggest opportunities to overtake but also into Turn 1 and 6, it depends how the fights are going. We’ve seen last year with the Softs that there is quite big degradation and they have not changed compared to last year. So, it will be interesting how the races will go this time, but I think the degradation makes it interesting. It gives an extra factor to the driver, how to deal with it and how to handle it. For me it was good last year so we will try to do as good as possible again.
“For sure being somewhere around the top five would be amazing, just because it’s my favourite track and I’ve been there quite often, and I know that with Van Amersfoort we can perform there very well.”
TECHNICAL PREVIEW
A short track that features a mix of medium and high-speed corners with three DRS zones. There are not many corners which means brake wear is not too high but miss your braking point and you will be at a disadvantage, in particular on the straights whether it be on your Qualifying lap, where it will be hard to make up time, or in the races.
Downforce levels will therefore be crucial as you want to be as fast as possible on the straights, making sure you are not easy to overtake in the DRS train, while also ensuring your car is perfectly balanced going through the corner, especially in the very technical final sector.
RACE STRATEGY
Pirelli have allocated the red-walled Soft tyres to the teams this weekend as the forces exerted on the tyres on the short Austrian track are well below average. Tyre wear at this track is mainly down to thermal degradation and the weather can play an important role, as conditions can vary in Spielberg.
Gareth Haynes, F2/F3 Pirelli Trackside Engineer:
“Although the Spielberg track doesn’t exert much stress on the tyres, given that the forces to which they are subjected are not particularly high, the Soft will suffer some degradation because of graining, which on paper could kick in as from Laps 6 to 8. One key factor to getting a good result will be the driver’s ability to react more quickly than others to the change of car balance provoked by the degradation and the consequent reduction in grip.”
STAT PACK