Hungaroring, De Palo on the podium in race 2

Third place in race 2 and consolidated leadership in the Formula Regional European by Alpine championship: the trip to the Hungaroring near Budapest ended in the best possible way for the Trident team, which leaves Hungary with a pole in qualifying 1, victory in the first race and third place in the second race. De Palo leads the overall standings with 122 points against the 118 of his closest rival, Freddie Slater.

It is a good moment for the squad, which in the first race scored points also with Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi, ninth. In race 2, the Thai came very close to the top 10, finishing 11th whileRuiqi Liu was again pushed off the track in Sunday's race, thus losing time and positions. Now maximum concentration for the next appointment scheduled for 18-20 July at Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet.

Matteo De Palo: “It was a good weekend here in Hungary. Yesterday was a perfect day. Today we had a few complications, with small details in both qualifying and the race that didn’t go exactly our way. We were also a bit unlucky, so we did the best we could. After the race, the disqualification of another driver meant third position. We’re very happy because we’ve taken back the lead in the championship, and now we’re fully focused on the race in France in two weeks”.

Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi: “Starting from P11 after qualifying, I knew it was going to be tough to overtake on this track. It was a difficult race: I was always stuck behind other cars and dealing with dirty air. There wasn’t much I could do, even though I had better pace than the cars in front. Now I just need to reset, take the positives, and keep improving. I’m confident we’ll be back fighting at Paul Ricard in two weeks”.

Ruiqi Liu: “It was a tougher day compared to yesterday, especially in qualifying. The track temperature was a bit lower, and the tyres took longer to warm up. On the last lap, we couldn’t maximise what we had, so I started from P16. I had a good start in the race, but I got pushed out in Turn 2 and lost two positions. I managed to fight back from P19 to P15. It’s not the result we deserved, but I’m sure Paul Ricard will be better”.