Trident claims third place, driver championship lead with Fornaroli

The fifth round of the FIA Formula 3 Championship was completed with the Feature Race today at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. It was a very hard-fought one, and not an easy one to manage for the team's three drivers. The Ossona-based squad saw Leonardo Fornaroli start from P6 on the grid, while Santiago Ramos took-off from P11 and Sami Meguetounif from P16. The Marseille native was penalized by five positions for the contact with his Mexican teammate on lap 2 of the Sprint Race. 

The start of the Feature Race was clean, with Fornaroli able to gain one position immediately, while Ramos dropped to P12 and Meguetounif stayed in P16. After a heated first phase of the race, the drivers paid attention to managing tire degradation in the middle stages with a conservative approach to attack in the end.

Fornaroli made a great push in the final laps, when the 19-year-old Piacenza native overtook Tsolov and Browning in sequence, securing a podium that earned him P1 in the Driver Championship with a five-point advantage over his closest rival. 

Ramos took P11 at the end of a very hard-fought run, in which he showed a solid race pace. Sami Meguetounif, who did not take too many risks after the contact in the Sprint Race, got home in P15. 

The championship has entered its busiest phase and will be back in the heights of green Styria, at the fascinating Spielberg track, next weekend. 

Giacomo Ricci, Team Manager, Feature Race Quote:“It wasn't an easy weekend, but we are satisfied to leave Barcelona track with the lead of the Driver Championship once again in our hands. Fornaroli drove a careful race, managed the degradation well, and was able to attack at the end, gaining third place. His technical superiority earned him first place in the standings, with a five-point advantage over his closest rival. We also came close to the points zone with Ramos, who was involved in several battles, while Meguetounif finished outside the points zone mainly due to the five-place penalty on the starting grid."