Trident closed the second event of the 2022 Formula Regional European Championship with a positive balance at Imola. On Saturday the team achieved a valuable double points finish and on Sunday the team led by Maurizio Salvatori did it all again by placing two cars in the top-10, in reverse positions.
Tim Tramnitz, who had finished P9 on Saturday, improved to P8 in Race 2, while Leonardo Fornaroli set a P9 finish after yesterday’s P8. Roman Bilinski finished in P15 after finishing qualifying 2 in P8 of Group B and starting from 16th on the grid. It was a great satisfaction for Tramnitz and Fornaroli as they were first and second respectively in the rookie rankings.
Rain plays tricks on round 2 of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine.
As on Saturday, Race 2 was red flagged after a few laps due to a massive crash involving three cars at Tamburello. Not much later it started to rain heavily as it had done before the start. While the first time all drivers started on slicks, as the track dried up quickly, rain tires became necessary after the red flag. The German youngster Tramnitz clocked the fastest lap of Qualifying 2 Group B and started in P2 overall, but didn’t find the pace needed to fight at the front. Fornaroli, who qualified fifth in Group A, started P10, third among rookie and improved to P9 at the end. The Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine is back on the schedule as the opening act for the famed Monte Carlo Grand Prix on May 29.
Roman Bilinski: “Difficult final day. Qualifying looked really good until the last lap when I just got a pip from some people at the end which made the race tough. We’ve been through all the conditions you can think of, we used slicks and wet in the same race, and we thought maybe we’d go back to slicks. So another tough day, but you look at it and we come back stronger in Monaco.”
Tim Tramnitz: “The race was very tough. From P2, of course you want to at least get a podium, but we had some speed problems, especially towards the end with wet tires. Anyway, there are a lot of positives to take from this weekend, especially the qualifying pace. We still need to work on the race pace more, but we have the time to do that and we will be stronger.”
Leonardo Fornaroli: “We had a good weekend here in Imola and we managed to finish in the top 10 in both the qualifying sessions and the two races. This morning after the first runs I understood where I needed to improve and I was ready for the last flying lap when the red flag was shown. Still I managed to get a nice fifth place. The race was one of the hardest I’ve ever run. A few seconds before the start, a heavy downpour forced us to put on wet tires, but on the formation lap the track dried up enough to return to slicks. During the first few laps the asphalt was very slippery, but it improved quickly. Then a second shower forced us to go back to wet tires but only half the track was wet and the rest stayed dry. We ended a tricky run with a different spot in the points zone, for which I really have to thank the Trident team”.