WHAT WE LEARNED: The key takeaways from a dramatic Round 5 in Barcelona

It was quite a weekend in Barcelona as with Arvid Lindblad’s Feature Race victory we got our first repeat winner of the season.

On top of that, the Sprint Race produced the incredible scenes of seeing Mari Boya and Campos Racing winning on home soil.

It was quite the week, and we will do it all again in Spielberg this weekend. But before that happens, let us look back at some of the storylines from Round 6 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

BARCELONA ROUND ANALYSIS: Last-gasp laps and fast starters

LINDBLAD MAKES A STATEMENT

As previously mentioned Lindblad became the first repeat winner of the season with his triumph in the Feature Race. But what was impressive was the manner in which he did it.

On a weekend where his more experienced teammates Gabriele Minì and Dino Beganovic struggled, the PREMA Racing rookie excelled, qualifying second after missing out on pole to Christian Mansell by just 0.046s.

But he would not be denied in the Feature Race, using his strong pace early on to make the move past his ART Grand Prix rival for the lead.

From then on, he managed things expertly, and at a track where tyre management skills are put to the ultimate test, the Red Bull Academy junior thrived.

With this win, he moves up to fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, 12 points behind leader Leonardo Fornaroli. With five rounds to go, Lindblad has put himself right in the mix for the title, setting up an intriguing couple of race weekends.

FORNAROLI’S CONSISTENCY THE DIFFERENCE

This might not have been the Trident driver’s best weekend in terms of raw pace, but in terms of achieving the maximum possible, it might be Fornaroli’s finest performance of the season.

READ MORE: Mari Boya’s Barcelona race weekend in his words

Despite his best efforts Fornaroli just did not have enough for pole, as he was P2 after the first set of laps, P6 after the second, before ending up P6 again after the final runs, two-tenths off Mansell on pole.

But this left him in a good spot for both races and in the Sprint Race, he managed his tyres expertly to start and finish seventh. Speaking afterwards, he was convinced that without the late Safety Car he could have made some overtakes and ended up higher.

He proved that in the Feature, as after holding station in P5 while managing his tyres for most of the race, Fornaroli started to push in the final five laps.

The Italian overtook Nikola Tsolov for P4 before getting past his Hitech Pulse-Eight Championship rival Luke Browing on the final lap, putting him on the podium.

These results put Fornaroli back to the top of the Drivers’ Championship, and while he is yet to win a race this year, his consistency in achieving the best results possible are paying dividends.

CAMPOS SHOW WHAT IS POSSIBLE

There were plenty of mixed emotions for the Spanish squad as they packed up their motorhome and headed to the airport.

On the one hand, they were happy to win on home soil for the third consecutive year with Boya in the Sprint Race, while Oliver Goethe’s P3 and P4 results would have gone down well. But there was yet again a feeling of what might have been.

Sebastián Montoya showed great pace before qualifying 10th, only his time to be deleted for exceeding track limits, dropping him down to P27.

READ MORE: Dunne pleased to be in points contention after Barcelona Feature showing

He then showed strong performance again in the Sprint, coming through all the way to P12 before a collision with Minì knocked him out of the race.

Montoya battled through once more in the Feature to finish in P12 but that was helped by Boya receiving a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits one too many times during the race, dropping him from eighth to P14.

But once again it is a weekend where all three drivers showed great potential, and their cars have strong performance, but for one reason or another they could not put it all together.

Having said they fourth in the Championship two points behind ART and if they can have a clean weekend in both Qualifying and the races, they have shown the pace is there to fight at the front.

LEVELLING THE PLAYING FIELD

For the rookies, the start of the season has been quite tough as they visited tracks that they had no experience around before. But Imola in May and Barcelona are both tracks many of them will know, with all 17 of them having done in-season testing at the latter venue in April.

That familiarity showed itself as for the first time this season, a rookie topped a Practice session, with Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Martinius Stenshorne leading the way in Barcelona.

Rosin: ‘Fundamental to title chances’ to keep momentum up after Lindblad victory

Later in the day, seven rookies qualified in the top 12, which was tied for the most this season alongside Imola. This shows that at venues they know, our newcomers are able to fight alongside the returning drivers on a more regular basis.

As we head to more tracks they have raced at before for the rest of the season, things could get a lot tighter at the top, which could make for an exciting final few weeks of the campaign.