Wharton delivered the highlight of Prema’s Barcelona round with victory in Saturday’s sprint race, his second career F3 win and first for the Italian squad before finishing 12th in Sunday’s feature race.
Teammate Louis Sharp also opened his points account with ninth in the sprint, although he endured a more difficult Sunday as he finished 19th after struggling to make progress from the midfield.
The weekend gave Prema its clearest sign of progress so far this season, with Wharton claiming the team had shown it could fight at the front when starting from a competitive position.
“Overall, it was a positive weekend — the best so far in 2026 after quite an up-and-down season,” Wharton said.
“I can’t thank the team enough for their hard work during this period, and at the same time, there’s still a lot of work to do to get to the front in the feature race.
“We showed that, starting from the front, we have the pace to win races. We need to take this on board and continue pushing in the coming races.”
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Wharton qualified 11th in Barcelona, which put him second on the reverse grid sprint race grid and 11th for the feature race.
The Australian made the most of the Saturday opportunity, recovering from being shuffled back early to pass Freddie Slater and then pole sitter Gerrard Xie before controlling two safety car restarts on his way to victory.
The result marked Wharton’s first points of the campaign and Prema’s first F3 win since Belgium in 2024, while he also claimed the fastest lap.
Speaking after the sprint, Wharton said the result had come at an important time after a difficult start to the year.
“I feel incredible. It’s been a hard season so far, and I feel like this was needed for me and for the team as well,” he said.
“The team has needed this boost of confidence, and I feel like we are doing the job we just have not had the results to show it.
“To do something like this with someone so fast behind me like Freddie is very good for us and it shows us we are working well.
“But at the same time after Lap 1 I didn’t think I’d be sitting here, so to be winning after going back at the start shows my maturity level from last year and I am happy with how it went.
“I could not be more happy.”
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Sunday proved more difficult for Prema, with Wharton starting 11th and spending much of the race in a tightly packed group fighting around the edge of the points.
Multiple virtual safety car periods disrupted the rhythm of the race, while tyre management became a key factor for drivers running in traffic.
Wharton eventually finished 12th, leaving him outside the points but still encouraged by the step made across the weekend.
Sharp also took positives from Barcelona after finishing ninth in the sprint race, giving him the first points of his campaign after starting 16th.
However, he could not repeat that progress in the feature race, with the New Zealander again starting 16th before coming home 19th.
Sharp said the race had been compromised by battling in the pack and losing ground around one of the VSC restarts.
“Today was a difficult day for us. The pace wasn’t quite as good as in yesterday’s race,” Sharp said.
“There was a lot of battling going on, and I lost out a little on the virtual safety car restart, which hurt our pace, as I had to push hard to get back into clean air, and it was a bit tricky with the tyres.
“There are a few things we need to work on, and we learned some things today, which is good. We need to put that into action.
“I’m really looking forward to the Red Bull Ring, as we were really strong in testing a couple of weeks ago, so we can go in quite confident.”
Jose Garfias completed Prema’s Feature Race in 21st, having also been limited by his starting position in a race where overtaking proved difficult through the pack.
Wharton’s win in Barcelona moves him into 14th place in the drivers’ standings, while Sharp’s ninth place on Saturday moves him to 19th.
Ugo Ugochukwu recovered from a DNF during the sprint to finish third in the feature race to retain his lead at the top of the standings, six points clear of feature race winner Theophile Nael.
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