Trident Motorsport scores ninth place with Fornaroli
The FIA Formula 3 Championship is back for one of its most prestigious outings at Melbourne's Albert Park, a regular event in the category's calendar. In the second qualifying of the 10-event season, the Trident Motorsport drivers faced mixed fortunes. Leonardo Fornaroli scored his second pole position in the series after the one achieved last year at Silverstone. Sami Meguetounif ended up in the wall at the end of the session, when he was hoping for a row 2 start, and couldn't achieve better than P26. Santiago Ramos went off the track early in qualifying, finishing in P18.
Fornaroli, a 19-year-old from Piacenza, held P2 for most part of qualifying, which was interrupted at the end to allow the removal of a crashed car. At the restart, with only one lap available, Fornaroli made the difference and delivered pole position with 0.019s of advantage over his closest rival. At the start of the Sprint Race, he got off to a good start from P12 on the grid, immediately entering the points zone. His race featured many competitive battles, which cost him time and forced him to an off-track that cost some pace. It eventually prevented him from going beyond P19.
Ramos damaged his front wing and was forced to return to the pit lane to replace it, restarting late. The 20-year-old driver from Guadalajara finished in 24th. Meguetounif made a solid comeback run, ending up in P17 despite a five-second penalty for a track limits violation. Now the Trident Motorsport drivers will analyze the data collected during the Sprint Race with their technical staff, in the usual preparation work for the Feature Race, scheduled tomorrow at 9:00 local, 11:00 PM in Italy
Giacomo Ricci, Team Manager, Sprint Race Quote: “We didn't have any particular expectations ahead of today's Sprint Race, but we put in our usual determination to get the most out of it. With Meguetounif P20 on the starting grid, Ramos in P18, and Fornaroli in P12, due to the reversal of the top 12 positions of qualifying, we knew we had to aim for a comeback race, taking advantage of every opportunity. Meguetounif climbed up to 17th place despite a penalty, Ramos bent his front wing at the start, while Fornaroli faced multiple battles that took away his energy and pace, preventing him from going beyond P9 but still improving his score. Clearly, starting from pole position, the important race for him is tomorrow."