Trident Racing rounds out positive GP3 Series test

Vicky Piria

Photo by: GP3 Media Service

Trident Racing enjoyed a positive 2012 debut in the GP3 Series collective test held at the Estoril circuit. At the end of day-2, all the goals set were successfully achieved as a in really rewarding run, an high number of laps were logged by all drivers.

After having cruised to the top spot yesterday with Nico Mueller, the team's cars were brought on-track by three rookie racers: Vicky Piria, Antonio Spavone and Yuki Shiriashi, all of them at their first GP3 experience this week.

Piria and Spavone continued in the work started yesterday as they progressively improved their confidence with the GP3 Renault-powered Dallara as well as their laptimes. Shiraishi met with the team's technical staff today and didn't commit mistakes en-route to round out a positive improvement.

The next time on-track in GP3 for Trident Racing will be on March the 12th and 13th at Barcelona. Next week though, the team's GP2 squad will be lined-up at Jerez for their first test of 2012.

Antonio Spavone

“I'm really satisfied with how this test went. And if I consider that I was driving a GP3 Series Dallara for the first time on an unknown track I can be really satisfied with my laptimes too. I ended up just half a second off a pack of top-10 fighters and that's a great starting point to begin with. I was pretty impressed with the car, especially by the engine and the cornering grip. It performed like I expected and it gives some great sensations. I still need to log some laps in order to take the best out of it and that's the reason why I did not take any risk today. I glued with the team pretty fast, almost immediately, and I was well-suited by their work method. My goal will now be to drop a further couple of tenths in order to get closer to the top-10.

Vicky Piria

“This has been a really valuable couple of days. Together with the team we planned a work schedule to improve step-by-step, and in the end we succeeded as I found myself just two seconds off the leaders. It's a really positive result, considering that I was running on the GP3 car for the first time and didn't know the track at all. In addition to that, some of the drivers on-track already had 2-year stints in the series and a bigger experience than mine. I'm really happy for this first contact with the team and I reckon that we have everything we need to do well in the championship. My goal is now to take advantage from every single test available before the start. Every lap I can turn is really important for me."

Yuki Shiraishi

"My goal in this test was to get a better understanding of the GP3 Series environment, and I'm really happy with how this first experience went. Everything was new, but I managed to get a first-hand impression. I learned a lot of things and I was favourably impressed by the team's personnel and car. Now I'm gonna face a planned season in Formula 3 but we'll be back at the end of 2012 with more experience to get a fresh start in GP3."