The Dutch event is complete: Trident is heading towards Germany
It was a difficult Sunday for the Trident team at Zandvoort in the penultimate round of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine. After a stellar Saturday run, which saw Roman Bilinski take fifth place in race 1, the bad weather that hit the Dutch venue radically changed the cards on the table.
It was so much so that group A qualifying was interrupted due to hail with 6 minutes to go. As a consequence, the three Trident drivers were forced to settle for low positions on the grid. Bilinski was 19th, Owen Tangavelou 26th and Nikhil Bohra 29th. Race 2 highlighted the good comebacks, again on a wet track, made by Tangavelou and Bilinski, who finished in P17 and P18 respectively. However, Bohra had to retire as he was involved in a contact. With the Dutch event complete, Trident is heading towards Germany to take part in the final round of the championship on October 21st and 22nd at Hockenheim.
Roman Bilinski: “Lots of “what if…” here at Zandvoort. Today in qualy it was very difficult: an out lap and warm lap, this was everything we did. Whoever warmed the tyres the quickest was on pole, which is different and had never happened before, so we had to start quite far back in the race. We had nothing to lose, so we took a risk. I was on the only car on the grid on slicks, and for the first three laps it was looking like it could work, the track was only drying, and it was looking okay, but then out of nowhere, clouds came, and it started raining. Unfortunately, that was it for us. I had to pit for wet tires, and by then, I was too far back. The pace in the wet was extremely good anyway. I’m happy we took a risk, even though it didn’t pay off, and we can be proud of the job we did. Now we have full focus on Hockenheim in a week’s time”.
Owen Tangevelou: “Once again, the starting position was not the best, but for the race the start was quite great: before the safety car, I managed to gain 10 positions, but after that we made a tiny change, and I lost two positions. I’m quite happy with today's race, but I think we could have done a better job after the safety car. Thanks to Trident, on to Hockenheim”.
Nikhil Bohra: “Another difficult day in Zandvoort, not much to say about it. I didn't even do a lap in quali and had no way to get out of the incident of lap 1 that happened directly in front of me and then again the safety car. Just not my weekend, and I’ll just keep my head high for Hockenheim. hopeful we can come back a lot stronger and close off the season well”.