Fighting for more: Josep María Martí’s Barcelona Debrief

2 June 2025

It wasn’t the homecoming Josep María Martí had hoped for going into the Barcelona weekend, but the Campos Racing driver was at least happy with the team’s speed leaving Round 6.

While he wasn’t able to secure a podium on home soil, Martí says he and the team have made an encouraging step in performance and he is hopeful of a return to form come Spielberg.

Here is what he made of the Barcelona race weekend, in his own words.

RACING AT HOME

Barcelona was a home weekend for driver and team, and the support was felt

“Obviously it's great to race in front of a lot of fans and a home crowd, but obviously quite disappointed with the outcome. Unfortunately, on Friday, I just was not confident. I was struggling quite a bit with the car, and on the last lap of Qualifying I didn't have enough. Just wanted that extra lap to perform. Finished up 11th, one-tenth shy of P6 and then, yeah, the weekend was harder to do from there.”

STRATEGIC SPRINT

“Yesterday we were very, very competitive. We were sitting in P7 and the Safety Car came out and there was just a small misunderstanding between myself, the team and of the situation. Obviously we didn't box and were the last of the top eight not to box.

“We went from possibly winning a race to finishing out of the points. So it's a bit of a shame, because I genuinely felt that if I boxed, we would have won the race. I have trust that my mechanics would have done a great pit stop, and that we would have been fighting for that win. So it's a bit of a shame. “

NO DICE

A difficult Qualifying compromised the Barcelona weekend and left Marti to fight back in both races

“We decided to go on the normal strategy, because to be honest, every single time I've used the alternative strategy, I've either had a Safety Car come in the middle of the race or something happened to me.

“So we were like, ‘Look let’s not just gamble on luck, let’s just go for it.’ We had a good start. Then, tried to get to a move done on Luke Browning and wasn't really able to, and then the team decided to hold me out for quite a while, and to be honest, it was a great strategy call.

“We managed to come out right ahead of Luke and Joshua Duerksen, and then obviously extended the gap to them. Got past Roman Stanek with a really good move, and then he was caught up by the guys in the Options.

“So bit of a shame, to be honest. Looking back, I would love to go with the Prime, but to be honest, you can always say that in hindsight. You can always dream about it. I think we maximised what we had today.

“We maximised our grid position, this isn’t a place like Bahrain where you can go for moves and we managed to do some good ones anyway. So I'm quite proud of the team. Very happy for Arvid’s win. I think the team deserved it with how good of a car we had this weekend. Obviously not too happy, because I genuinely thought it could have been me up there today. So I’ve got to bounce back soon.”

EYES FORWARD

A decision not to pit under Safety Car in the Feature Race proved costly in the end

“I’ll be doing a lot of sim, a lot of prep ahead of the next race. It’s a back-to-back with Red Bull Ring and Silverstone, so I’m going straight to the UK after to prepare with Red Bull. I’m super, super excited. If I'm honest, I think it’s one of the most exciting double-headers of the season.

“Both tracks are really racing-focused. You can actually go for side-by-side moves on both tracks. So I'm excited, and I’m keen. Last year we had a very competitive car on both tracks, and I'm confident that coming off the high of the win, the team will be super motivated, and we'll be able to have a very strong performance.”