Trident claims third place, championship lead with Fornaroli
The Belgian round of the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship, held at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps track, was completed with today’s Feature Race. Ran on a damp track, it was quite fragmented full of surprises as the conditions led several of the drivers to make mistakes.
Leonardo Fornaroli started from third place on the grid, Sami Meguetounif took off from P8 and Santiago Ramos started from P10. Right at the start, a multi-car contact exiting the first corner disrupted the mid-pack position but did not affect the third place secured at the start by Fornaroli, the P5 by Meguetounif, and the P10 by Ramos. A few moments later, the Trident Motorsport drivers lined up behind the safety car in the same order as another contact caused the first safety car, which continued until the end of the sixth lap.
At the restart, another collision caused the safety car to be deployed again. In the meantime, with a lightning maneuver, Sami Meguetounif made it through to fourth place. In the second restart, which took place at the end of lap 9, two more contacts on the track caused a new neutralization and the third intervention of the safety car. Fornaroli was third, Meguetounif fourth, and Ramos ninth.
The Feature Race finally resumed with two laps to go, but there was no margin for Fornaroli to attack for second place. Meguetounif finished in fifth, while Santiago Ramos crossed the finish line in P8. By delivering his sixth podium of the season, Fornaroli regained the lead in the driver championship, just one point ahead of his closest rival, Gabriele Minì. Now it will be key to line up for the Monza finale, at the beginning of September, with the maximum determination and focus to defend such a hard-fought lead.
Giacomo Ricci, Team Manager, Feature Race Quote:“We are delighted to have regained the lead of the Driver Championship with Fornaroli's third place at the end of a very difficult race, hard-fought and made even more treacherous by the damp track that caused several offs, leading many drivers to make mistakes. Being able to finish today’s Feature Race with all our cars in the points zone is certainly a positive result. With three safety car interventions, there was little racing today, but our drivers were able to play their cards right. Our goal is now to defend the championship lead in the final in Monza, where maximum focus and determination will be needed”.