Trident Racing prepared for final round at Monza

The 2012 GP3 Series entered its closing stint of the season with the running of round 7 at the Belgian Spa-Francorchamps venue. Teams and drivers will have no time to rest though, before being back on-track this weekend at Monza. As usual, the round at Monza will be special for Trident Racing. The team will do their best to shine in front of their home supporters.

Giovanni Venturini

Photo by: GP3 Media Service

At Spa-Francorchamps, Vicky Piria and Giovanni Venturini enjoyed some positive performance although they did not collect the results they would have deserved. The Belgian weekend of the series started with some struggles due to the weather. Free practice was held under thick rainfall, while the track dried out for qualifying except for some wet spots.

Vicky completed qualifying in a really positive fashion as she ended up in 13th, scoring her personal best result on one of the world's most technical circuits. Venturini scored the 8th fastest lap, getting closer and closer to the leading pack after the good feedback experienced at Budapest.

The first race of the weekend proved extremely short due to a crash. Race control were forced to interrupt the action and calling it quits not much later. Only four laps were completed, with Venturini ending up in 9th place and Piria finishing in 16th. Race 2 proved much less dramatic. Venturini held on to 9th again, while Piria took 19th.

Trident Racing, as well as the the team's drivers, are already focused on lining-up at Monza. The Italian track will host the final round of 2012.

Giovanni Venturini: “I'm persuaded that, due to many and different reasons, this weekend we got less than we deserved. The first problem came in qualifying, when I could not take full advantage of my car and I also lost my final flyer due to a slower car. At the start I got off badly and lost positions. I moved back on Fontana immediately and I was catching Williamson when the race was interrupted. For me it's been great damage as I was in 9th place. With just one lap more I could have ended up in 8th and get the pole spot for Race 2. The second race has been funnier. I made a slight mistake at La Source, right after the start, but I recovered immediately, building a steady pace. We put on quite a show with Buller and Evans, but I paid the price of an excessive tire wear in the closing stages and could not defend 8th place. Looking forward to Monza, I'm quite confident. I should have got more at Spa-Francorchamps, and on Race Day I was braking later than in qualifying. I still have to merge with this car and I think that things can only improve in Italy”.

Vicky Piria: “Finally I had the chance to start the weekend on a track that I already knew! The practice sessions under the rain were an additional chance to make some experience but we already knew that the weather conditions would have changed. The qualifying session were held in dry conditions and I was really satisfied with the result, a 13th place less than 1 second off the leader. On such a tough circuit like Spa-Francorchamps, it's a great result for me. Race 1 has been really short though, and after a tough start I didn't have a real chance to recover. Sunday's one has been more demanding as I did not get in touch with my car as happened the day before. I lost positions, and was unable to recover as I knew I could do. Overall, I'm really happy for how the weekend went because I showed that, when I can avoid spending time in familiarizing with an unknown track, I can run close to the points zone. That confirms how being experienced can be key, and I hope to take full advantage of all the things I learned so far. I'm already focusing on Monza, another really important deal for me also in 2013 terms. I know the track and I hope to confirm the same progress showed last weekend, and maybe to collect some points”.

Source: Trident Racing