The second round of the 2022 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine will go down in the books as one of the longest running ever. The field’s 36 drivers took to the track for the first time on Wednesday for a collective test session, which ended in the same pouring rain that affected Friday’s practice.
Trident shone in the wet sessions with Tim Tramnitz finishing sixth in second and Leonardo Fornaroli finishing tenth in first.
Trident hits top-5 in Monza FRECA test
Qualification 1 was run on a dry track on Saturday morning and the drivers returned to slicks, split into two groups. Fornaroli scored the fifth fastest lap of Group A and finished ninth overall and third among rookies. Tramnitz was fifth in Group B and tenth overall, while Roman Bilinski finished P8 of his group and P16 overall.
Race 1 was disrupted by several crashes leading to an early red flag, two safety cars and another red flag as time ran out.
The Trident drivers kept their cool and brought home points. Fornaroli finished in P8, followed by Tramnitz, who took his first place in the top-10, while Bilinski took P14. For the Italian squad, led by Maurizio Salvadori in their first FRECA season, this was the best result to date. In the previous event at Monza, Fornaroli had achieved a top-10 finish in race 1.
Roman Bilinski: “I am not satisfied with my qualifying performance. The team gave me a great car that I couldn’t take full advantage of because of a mistake on my fastest lap, the one that probably put me forward. I know I need to resolve this aspect and I am working on it. The race was very complicated, with several safety cars and red flags, but we know we have a great race pace and we can fight for the points soon. We have to work hard to be prepared for tomorrow. Thank you to the team for the work done!”
Tim Tramnitz: “Actually it was my second day in dry conditions on this track, so I can be quite happy with the end result. I was able to get more comfortable step by step and secured a good position in qualifying. In the race my start wasn’t perfect but I held my position on lap 1. Then it was just about a good restart after so many safety car periods and trying to attack up front but there were too many interruptions so it was not really possible to race. Anyway, this song is really funny and I’m ready for tomorrow”.
Leonardo Fornaroli: “Great day here in Imola. I am happy with my qualifying as I set the fifth fastest lap time in Group A and finished ninth in the combined standings. Unfortunately I made a few minor mistakes which cost me a position or two. The race was very complicated with the safety cars and the two red flags, so I couldn’t do much to regain positions. However, I am pleased to have finished in the top 10 in qualifying as well as in the race. I have to say a huge thank you to the team for giving us a very competitive car.”