Good points with Laurens Van Hoepen

The Feature Race, which concluded the sixth round of the FIA Formula 2 Championship season at  verdant Red Bull Ring in Austria saw Trident Motorsport finish in  the points. Despite a difficult qualifying and a midfield start, Laurens Van Hoepen mounted a consistent comeback.

A key player on Saturday with the Sprint Race victory, John Bennett, instead, failed to capitalize on his ninth-place start, finishing the longer race of the Austrian weekend outside the points.

The pit crew of the Milan-based team, with its operational headquarters in Ossona, opted to diversify its drivers' strategies. Laurens Van Hoepen started from sixteenth on the grid on Soft tires, while John Bennett started from ninth on the Super Soft compound.

Both Trident Motorsport drivers stood out at the start, gaining positions in the standings. Van Hoepen, taking advantage of the harder compounds, extended his stint, while Bennett stopped at the end of lap nine. Van Hoepen's strategy proved more rewarding given the race dynamics. The twenty-one-year-old Dutchman took advantage of the softer tires in the final laps, stringing together a series of overtaking moves that allowed him to cross the finish line in ninth place.

Conversely, John Bennett found himself on the most worn tires in the closing stages. The twenty-two-year-old Englishman, winner of the Sprint Race, therefore slipped to twelfth place overall.

There's no need to slow down: next weekend, the FIA Formula 2 Championship cars will be back in action at the Silverstone circuit in England.

Giacomo Ricci: “A positive result that allowed us to secure the points with Laurens Van Heupen. After a less than impressive qualifying, the Dutch driver mounted a solid comeback, finishing ninth. One more lap would have been enough to further improve his final position. John Bennett's strategy, however, didn't prove as effective, given the dynamics of the Feature Race. Now our attention is already turned to the next round at Silverstone, where we aim to have another competitive weekend.”