Trident wraps up the 2024 season in Monza
The 2024 season of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, the third in the series for the Trident squad, has ended at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. Maurizio Salvadori's team harvested one pole and two podiums, closing the championship in seventh position in the Teams’ ranking with 84 points.
In the season-closing weekend, after having conquered front row for Race 1 with Roman Bilinski, the English driver of Polish ascent was unable to repeat himself in Q2. However, starting from the tenth row of the grid in Race 2, he achieved a strong comeback up to eighth place.
Unfortunately, a contact with a rival compromised the stability of the front wing and Bilinski was forced to return to the pits to replace it. The unforeseen cost him another safe place in the points.
The best representative of Trident was Nicola Lacorte, a good 14th after having made a good comeback following a difficult qualifying. Ruiqi Liu was instead involved in two contacts in the closing stages of the race. The rival’s car involved in the second incident caught fire, leading to the display of the red flag.
Roman Bilinski: “The final race of the season was quite unlucky with the front wing falling off, but until then I had climbed 11 positions and was in the points. To be honest, I can be proud and happy about my last race in FRECA. I want to say a huge thank you to Trident team for the past three years. It has been a great experience to meet and work with so many amazing people here. Now I move on to my next step, but I wish them all the best”.
Nicola Lacorte: “The last weekend of the season started really well in practice. We had a really good pace in damp conditions with wet and slick tires and after Q1 was cancelled, FP2 results set the grid for Race 1 and this meant we secured the 3rd row of the grid. Although all three of us from Trident started at the front, we didn’t have the pace to keep those positions. It could have been a really positive result, but it is what it is. In Q2 I had a solid pace on wet tires, but my lap was compromised due to a double yellow flag in the last sector. Race 2 was the first dry session of the weekend and a very tricky one with many incidents and safety cars. Of course, points were the goal, but it was cool to gain so many positions. I can’t thank enough the team for the season in FRECA, and I wish them the best next year”.