Colapinto excited for Melbourne Feature Race after showing 'good pace' to finish P4 in the Sprint

Franco Colapinto is keen to pair his good performances over a race stint with stronger Qualifying results after the MP Motorsport driver came through the field to finish fourth in the Melbourne Sprint.

The Argentinian driver started the race in 13th, and will do the same in the Feature, but a steady performance through the Sprint meant he crossed the line in fifth – before Isack Hadjar’s post-race 10-second time penalty promoted him up one more spot.

Reflecting on the afternoon, Colapinto was more than pleased with his performance, believing it serves as a good foundation for Sunday’s longer event.

READ MORE: Isack Hadjar loses Sprint Race win, Bearman and Crawford also penalised

“It was a good race,” said Colapinto. “Not a great start, I struggled with wheel spin but then I had good pace. I think the car looked strong yesterday, looked strong today, but yesterday we couldn't put our quali together.

“We struggled a bit with the strategy in the pitlane, I got the yellow flags and the traffic on the last run, so it was a bit tricky to deliver the result because the car was good, and Dennis Hauger did a really good job.

“Today was a good race, really good pace all the way round. Pushed a little bit too hard in the middle part, so I started to struggle a little bit with tyres, and I ended up back a bit but overall, it was a decent race, we did score some points and it was a positive race overall.

“We still need to work a bit for tomorrow because we have some things to fix but overall, it is looking good. The last two weekends we have been really strong so far, so we need to continue to be on it.”

Explaining how he came through the field, the Williams Driver Academy talent explained: “There were a lot of things going on in the race, we just chose the right moments to overtake and then we really were in the race for the tricky situations.

“I think I could have attacked Kush Maini a bit better at the end, but I just was not so good on tyres anymore and I struggled to get close. So, I think I lost a bit of an opportunity there but overall, a decent race and looking forward to tomorrow.”

READ MORE: Points in Melbourne Sprint Race a reward for ART’s improvement says Martins

Colapinto is yet to qualify in the top 10 this year which he believes is not giving him the platform he needs to show off his true performance. However, he is confident if he can do this, his weekends should become easier.

“I think we need to fix a bit the quali situation,” he continued. “Starting from the middle is just a much trickier weekend overall and we are struggling a bit with that. We are not so on it in Qualifying.

“I struggled in Jeddah a bit, I damaged the car on the first lap in quali and then the car was compromised a bit from there and then here, there was with the traffic and flags which didn't let me put a lap in the last run.

SPRINT RACE: Hadjar takes Melbourne victory with dominant drive

“So, we need to fix that and then of course the races will come a bit more to us. I have good race pace and we looked good in Bahrain, Jeddah as well, and here of course so far, so we need to keep working on quali. I think it is our weakness at the moment. If we can fix that, results should come much easier.”

As for the Feature Race on Sunday, Colapinto adds: “It's a really long race, a lot of opportunities, a lot of things can happen when we start from P13 as well. So, let us see how our race builds up from there. For sure a lot of things are going to happen like today in a pretty short race so let’s see.”