Dylan Pereira was in a happy mood after topping the timesheets in the free practice session for the season-opening Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race at Red Bull Ring in Austria.
After completing the 45 minute session, the BWT Lechner Racing driver headed up the 25-car field, ahead of Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer and 2019 vice champon Ayhancan Güven.
“It was nice to be back on track after doing quite a lot of virtual racing,” Periera told The Checkered Flag. “I’ve been looking forward to being back in the car and we did some testing before but I was really happy to be on the race track alongside Formula 1 again, ok without fans but still great to be back.”
While the Luxembourger outpaced his rivals today, he knows that there is still work to be done ahead of the race.
“Today, first place in practice, I’m really happy about that, the car felt quite good. I think that like any racing driver there is always something to improve.
“Today gives me a lot of confidence for qualifying tomorrow, we will question the data and look to improve the setup; driving wise you can always improve but I think we are ready for tomorrow.”
Pereira is confident for Sunday as he looks to build on his 2019 performance that saw him take two victories, one at the shortened Hockenheim race and then again at Spa-Francorchamps.
“My expectations for the race are quite high actually, I think I proved last year already that I could drive at the front and win some races, so today being first in free practice I’m really looking forward to tomorrow and for Sunday.
“So tomorrow doing a good job which will be 80% and aiming for pole position, in the race a podium would be nice for the season start.”
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