Fornaroli moves to second place in the championship

The FIA Formula 3 Championship got back into action on the ups and downs of the Catalan circuit of Montmelò, which is home to the third European race of the season, the fifth overall this weekend. In a very hard-fought qualifying session, the Trident Motorsport drivers faced mixed fortunes. Leonardo Fornaroli set the sixth fastest lap time, while Sami Meguetounif ended up in P11 and Santiago Ramos in P12. 

With the reverse-grid rule involving the top-12 position of qualifying, Ramos and Meguetounif started from the front row of the Sprint Race. After an excellent team effort at the start, with the Trident Motorsport driver staying 1-2, Meguetounif made contact with his teammate. The Mexican had to go back to the pits for a tyre change, while the Frenchman had to retire. 

The team thus had only one car fighting on top. Fornaroli fought back to P7 as he tried to maximize his points score, closing back into the championship lead as the two drivers he had in front in the standings didn't score points. 

The 19-year-old Italian, who also set the fastest lap of the race, secured five points and moved up to second place in the Driver Championship, three points shy of the lead.

Giacomo Ricci, Team Manager, Sprint Race Quote: “We are sad for the contact that led to the retirements of Meguetounif and Ramos and compromised a possible 1-2 for the team. On the other hand, the five points scored by Fornaroli allowed him to move up to second place in the standings, just three off the lead. This is the main aspect of a day where we could have achieved much more, and could have made a good leap forward in the Team Championship as well. Of course, we will discuss what happened internally, given that the very avoidable contact between Meguetounif and Ramos led to negative consequences for the team and drivers."