Spa-Francorchamps track didn't give great results for Trident
Gabriel Bortoleto is two points away from the Driver Championship. The Brazilian ended up out of the points zone a race that was impacted by the damp track not getting dry fast enough. Fornaroli ended up out of the points, while Goethe had a har crash.
The Feature Race wrapped up the penultimate round of the FIA Formula 3 Championship at the demanding Spa-Francorchamps track, and the Trident Motorsport drivers scored no points. The decision to start with slick tyres turned out not to be the winning one due to the low temperatures that prevented the asphalt from drying up.
Fornaroli, Bortoleto, and Goethe started respectively from P2, P15, and P27th on the grid. While the Italian delivered a perfect qualifying session, Bortoleto made some mistakes in his fastest lap, while Goethe was slowed down by an engine failure. In the opening part of the race, while on slicks, the three Trident Motorsport cars got out of the points zone. Goethe made a mistake at Eau Rouge, ending up into the barriers and causing a safety car that recompacted the group, while Fornaroli was 14th and Bortoleto was 19th.
With eight laps to go, the safety-car peeled into the pits to get the race restarted, the track dried up very slowly, especially in the middle sector, rewarding the drivers that started on rain tyres as the temperatures stayed lower than expected. Bortoleto recovered until P11, while Fornaroli’s comeback stopped in P14.
Bortoleto still has 38 points over his closest rival and will only need two points in the next event at Monza to become the 2023 champion. Regarding the team championship, Trident is holding second place, 25 points away from the top. Formula 3 will now have a month-long break. The next event will be at Monza in the first weekend of September.
Giacomo Ricci, Team Manager, Feature Race quote
"In today's race, we lined up our cars with slick tyres, counting on the fact that the track would dry quickly. Unfortunately, the temperatures stayed low and the road surface did not dry according to our forecasts, especially in the second sector. For this reason, Gabriel Bortoleto and Leonardo Fornaroli finished on the verge of the points zone, in a race dominated by outsiders. The Brazilian, who was rear-ended in the Sprint Race, had a very consistent Feature Race and would have deserved to collect much more this weekend. The same goes for Leonardo and Oliver, who had an off-track today. Now we have to keep our full focus ahead of the final round of the season at Monza. Today's race taught us that nothing is granted and that we will have to earn those two points that separate Bortoleto from the title."