Trident secures third place with Fornaroli, fifth place with Ramos

The Feature Race that wrapped up the Hungarian round of the FIA Formula 3 Championship took place on the twisty Hungaroring track today. The race featured a linear trend and was conditioned by the result of the qualifying session, as overtaking it is traditionally difficult there. Leonardo Fornaroli started from P3 on the grid and lost a spot going into turn 1, while Santiago Ramos held onto fifth place. On the other hand, Sami Meguetounif was forced to pit by a rear left puncture. In the opening laps, the drivers paid particular attention to tire management and there were no major overtakes to report. 

At the end of lap 8, a third of the way, Fornaroli was two and a half seconds from the lead, while Santiago Ramos dropped to P6. At the halfway point, end of lap 12, only one change had happened in the top ten positions, confirming that it was a long uneventful phase. The race offered no further opportunities, with a contact with three to go leading to a safety car, and that caused the race to end without further changes in positions.

Thanks to his third-place finish, which came after one of the competitors who had finished in front was disqualified, Fornaroli inched closer to the top of the driver ranking. The 19-year-old driver from Piacenza continues to hold fourth place, only seven points away from the top. For the same reason, Santiago Ramos climbed up to a fifth-place finish. The series will be lining up for a pivotal event at Spa-Francorchamps next week, with the situation on top still very fluid.

Giacomo Ricci, Team Manager, Feature Race quote: “The Hungaroring has confirmed itself as a track on which it is very difficult to overtake. We experienced a linear race, and the result was clearly influenced by the outcome of qualifying. Unfortunately, Fornaroli lost a position at the start and was unable to recover beyond P4, which then became a third pace after a competitor was disqualified. He was the only driver among the championship leaders to score points and moved within seven points of the lead. Ramos returned to the points zone after a long spell that started in Barcelona, while Meguetounif had his race jeopardized by a puncture".