Entering his third year in FRECA with junior single-seater powerhouse Prema Racing, Lorenzo Fluxá was tipped by some as a title contender, but the Spaniard sits 10th with just one podium and on the brink of mathematical elimination with three rounds to go. He caught up with Feeder Series about his season so far.

By Daniele Spadi

Fluxá made his FRECA debut in 2021 with Van Amersfoort Racing, but a difficult season saw him finish in 25th with no points to his name.

He switched to R-ace GP for 2022 and scored a podium in the first race of the season in Monza, but that ended up being his best result of the season, in which he ended up 12th behind teammates Hadrien David and Gabriel Bortoleto.

Fluxá had a much better start to the year in 2023, finishing fourth in the Formula Regional Middle East Championship. Having also signed with Prema for FRECA, the Spaniard entered his third year in the European championship with a clear goal in mind: to fight for the title.

“I always prefer to win than to have a learning year, so I prefer to do a third year [in FRECA] and be in the mix,” he said. “Maybe not win, but always be in the top five, which is more or less where we are.”

However, the start of the season wasn’t as consistent as Fluxá had hoped for. Reliability issues at Imola, incidents at Mugello and Le Castellet and underwhelming qualifying results at Barcelona and Spa made the 18-year-old lose touch with the championship contenders, most notably teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli and R-ace GP rookie Martinius Stenshorne. Fluxá’s current 64-point total comes from a total of seven points scores, which includes a podium and three further top-five finishes.

Some of his best results came in the first part of the season, with a fourth place at the second round in Barcelona being one of them. That weekend typified the Spaniard’s season so far: after his strong first race, the Prema driver qualified 12th for the second race despite being less than three tenths away from the third row. His lowly starting position contributed to a difficult race in which he finished 11th and lost ground in the standings.

“It was nice to go back home!” he said with a smile on his face. “We didn’t have the best weekend so it wasn’t so, so special, but racing at home is always nice, a lot of support from the Spanish people.”

Following his home race weekend, an encouraging second place in race two at the Hungaroring felt like the change of pace that he needed. However, the Prema driver has struggled to find his rhythm since then, finishing in the points in just three of the following eight races.

“I don’t think the first half [of the season] was that good, to be honest. I think we have a lot of potential. When we do a good job we are there, always in the top five, but I think we need to do a good job way more often – try and be there a bit more consistently.”

Room for improvement

Looking towards the second half of the season, Fluxá felt as though consistency was the key area in which both he and his team needed to improve.

“I think there’s nothing big to change, because at the end [of the day] on the good days we are there: podium at the Hungaroring and a few more top fives,” he explained to Feeder Series. “The speed is there, just [need] to try and find out why sometimes we’re not really on pace. Even when we’re not in the top five, we are in the top ten. Even in our worst days we manage to be in the top ten, which is not too bad. … Just the details, keep working, and I have no doubt we will reach it.”

Fluxá qualified a season-best third for that second race at the Hungaroring and has taken eight other top 10s in that session, but the 18-year-old admits that his qualifying performances must improve over the final few rounds.

“Qualis are still going to be 80, 90 percent of the weekend,” he said. “So we have to nail it, be on it and extract the maximum performance we can.”

Eyeing FIA F3 in 2024

Towards the end of his 2022 FRECA campaign, in which he finished 12th, Fluxá appeared at the FIA F3 post-season test at Jerez, driving for Van Amersfoort Racing on the second and third days. But Fluxá ultimately stayed in FRECA for a third season, a decision he said he supported to this day.

“Last year, I did [the] FIA F3 test because we were in the middle of going up or not. They were quite productive, but then I had the chance to race with Prema and doing a third year in FRECA, and we felt that it could be a really strong year,” he told Feeder Series.

“I think the decision was not easy but quite obvious. To have the chance to work with a really strong team and have a year where we can really fight at the front, I think it was a really good choice.”

The 18-year-old said he could now be ready to step up to FIA F3 in 2024.

“Yes, Formula 3 is for sure the goal,” he confirmed. “I’m not going to do more than three years in FRECA, so the goal is F3 for sure. Obviously [I want] the best seat I can get in F3, hopefully with Prema, but we will see. I don’t know yet.”

Header photo credit: Niels Broekema / Dutch Photo Agency via FRECA