Prema Racing is a team that is likely unfamiliar to US-only race fans. They arrived to the IndyCar grid ahead of the 2025 season with a two-car effort and no charters. And yet, they are now on pole position for the biggest oval race on the entire planet.

So who exactly is the team behind rookie Indy 500 polesitter Robert Shwartzman? Well, they may be new to ovals but they are no strangers to open-wheel racing.

A legendary team in junior categories 

Before we really get into it, let’s just put their achievements into perspective for the uninitiated: Prema has over 40 driver championships, and just as many team championships, after competing in 30+ racing divisions since 1983. Over one-fourth of the current Formula 1 grid have won titles with Prema, including Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri.

Just looking at this year’s Indy 500 starters, three of them have been crowned with Prema in the past (Felix Rosenqvist, Marcus Armstrong and Shwartzman). Current Indy NXT points leader Dennis Hauger also won the 2021 F3 title with Prema, and the career paths of many other drivers have intersected with the rich history of this team. Two of the three drivers from last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans winning driver lineup have raced for Prema in the past, and Antonio Fuoco earned his first notable single-seater title with them.

For you NASCAR fans out there, it’s a bit like TRD and their driver development program, or for you IndyCar fans, they’re basically a much older version of HMD Motorsports.

So yeah, they’re everywhere. Prema is an Italian team that has been in operation since 1983, and as you can see by the overview above, they’ve made quite the name for themselves in Europe and around the world through various junior categories.

Prema first appeared in Italian F3, but it wasn’t long before they branched out into other divisions. And it was in Italian F3 where they earned their first significant triumph, winning the 1990 championship with Roberto Colciago behind the wheel.

Collecting trophies and building names

Polesitter Charles Leclerc, PREMA Racing, second place Antonio Fuoco, PREMA Racing

Photo by: FIA Formula 2

But as the world crossed into the 21st century, that’s when they truly began excelling as an organization. As the new millennium got under way, they started to pick up several regional crowns, snagging titles in both the Eurocup and Italian Formula Renault divisions.

Ryan Briscoe was one of their early champions and he currently works as a consultant for the team as they embark on their first Indy 500. Briscoe, a successful IndyCar driver who is well-known by most US racing fans, earned Prema the inaugural Formula 3 Euro Series championship in 2003.

Kamui Kobayashi, an ex-F1 driver and sports car racing legend with overall wins in both the Rolex 24 at Daytona and 24 Hours of Le Mans, earned his first major championship while driving for Prema.

And as Prema became more accustomed to the top step of the podium, they expanded their efforts into countless other junior divisions across Europe and even beyond. When the 2010s arrived, it became difficult to keep up with all of their successes. In the first half of the decade alone, they captured ten drivers’ titles in five different series. They won every single Formula 3 European team championship between 2013 and 2018, and as previously noted, they helped launch the careers of several future Formula 1 drivers.

Success in F2 and F3

Oliver Bearman, PREMA Racing

Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images

And yes, their success includes the direct feeder divisions for F1. They won three consecutive F3 drivers’ titles between 2019 and 2021, and each of those drivers are doing quite well for themselves, these days. There’s Piastri, who currently leads the F1 world championship, Hauger, who leads the Indy NXT standings, and Shwartzman, who just became the first rookie to earn pole position for the Indianapolis 500 in 42 years. Oh, and they’ve also won the F3 team championship in four of the last six years.

They have earned three drivers’ titles in Formula 2 as well, coming in 2017 with Leclerc, 2020 with Mick Schumacher, and 2021 with Piastri. There was even a GP2 (F2’s previous name) title with future F1 grand prix winner Pierre Gasly. Even a relatively new series like F1 Academy cannot escape Prema, which has won the team championship there in both 2023 and 2024.

Macau, Le Mans, and now IndyCar

#9 Prema Orlen Team Oreca 07 – Gibson LMP2 of Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz, Lorenzo Colombo

Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt

Although we’re mainly focusing on championships, it’s also worth mentioning that they know how to win the Macau Grand Prix as well, which is basically the Super Bowl of junior formula racing. Their drivers won that iconic event in 2011, 2013 and 2015. While several other entrants have reached three wins, only two organizations have ever won more than that.

And while they’ve competed in at least two dozen ongoing or defunct junior single-seater divisions, they also went and formed an endurance racing division. They earned the 2022 European Le Mans Series title in LMP2, while also securing a runner-up finish in that class at the Le Mans 24 during that same year.

And in case it wasn’t clear, no, they never attempted an oval race before the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500.

This is entirely new for both Shwartzman and Prema Racing. In the first five races of the year, they had no starts higher than 16th, and no finishes higher than 18th when looking at both Shwartzman and his teammate Callum Ilott.

This Indy 500 pole feels like it came out of nowhere, and while it kind of did, we’re not dealing with true rookies here. It also helps when you have Eric Leichtle, a SpaceX engineer with previous experience at Team Penske, working with your organization.

While still quite the upset, Prema has been in this racing business for a long time, and they certainly know how to show up unannounced in a new series and immediately shake up the status quo.