No points for Trident Racing at Valencia

Despite the speed potential was enough to be among the frontrunners, Trident Racing ended the GP3 Series weekend at Valencia without scoring any point. In all the most important stages of the weekend, the team's three drivers were hit by some bad streaks of luck.

On a tough racetrack for comebacks, qualifying had a very important role in how the weekend unfolded. Giovanni Venturini set two extremely quick sector splits, but was blocked by a slower car in the last corner before crossing the line. This way, a possible second place on the grid turned into a spot in row 7.

Giovanni Venturini

Photo by: GP3 Media Service

At the start of Race 1, Fumanelli was off to a good getaway and got one spot back. Unfortunately, he was hit by Fong, who overshoot the braking point in turn two. His race ended just a couple of corners after the start. Venturini and Zonzini tried to recover but ended up respectively in 15th and 16th.

The outcome of Race 2 proved not too much different. Fumanelli ended his weekend without being able to move away from the grid due to a mechanical failure in his transmission. Zonzini and Venturini tried to come back again and even managed to pass some of their opponents, but then they got stuck at the tail end of a long single-file pack.

Venturini finished in 13th, one spot in front of Zonzini, who delivered some extremely quick laptimes.

The GP3 Series will be back on-track from June 28 to 30 at Silverstone for round 3 of 2013.

Giovanni Venturini: “The episode that conditioned my whole weekend happened in Qualifying. I had two very good splits in sector 1 and 2, when Visoiu shut the door in the last corner. This, added to the red flag not too much later, meant I had to take-off from the back and on this track it's tough to recover. It's a pity because the whole team was aware of their potential, which was enough to be among the frontrunners”.

Emanuele Zonzini: “We knew we have a great race pace, and that's the baseline we're starting from to look forward at the next rounds with confidence. We're still bitter for not having finalized this potential, which is demonstrated by our laptimes during the race. Here in Valencia, qualifying was interrupted with the red flags twice, and each time I was on-track with new tires. From that point, everything went uphill because passing here is almost impossible”.

David Fumanelli: “When you end a weekend without a single lap completed it's tough to draw balances. In Qualifying, circumstances didn't help me, but I would have never imagined to end both races after just a few meters, even in the worst-case scenario. I hope to forget this trip soon and start it over again at Silverstone, on a circuit where we performed very well in preseason testing”.

Trident Racing