Trident Motorsport takes Team Championship lead

The Feature Race at Sakhir wrapped up the opening FIA Formula 3 Championship weekend of 2024, and the Bahrain track brought a great load of points to Trident Motorsport, which took fourth place in the main race of the weekend with Sami Meguetounif, fifth with Santiago Ramos and seventh with Leonardo Fornaroli. Trident Motorsport is leaving the first venue of the season at the top of the team ranking.

French 19-year-old driver Meguetounif got off to a good start from fourth place on the grid and completed almost the entire Feature Race in third place. Only towards the end, his pace started to drop due to tire degradation, and that cost him a position.

Santiago Ramos highlighted his debut in the championship with a positive fifth place, after being hit by a competitor in the Sprint Race and being sent into a spin. After the third position achieved in the Sprint Race, Leonardo Fornaroli was slowed down at the start by a car that stalled in front of him. The 19-year-old from Piacenza, who dropped to eighth place, managed to overtake a competitor and move up to seventh place. The result allowed the Italian driver to grab seven points which put him in fourth position in the championship standings, ten points away from the top and two points ahead of teammate Meguetounif. Ramos has 10 points despite missing those from the Sprint Race.

Now the series will take a three-week break, coming back on March 22nd to 24th in Melbourne.

Giacomo Ricci, Team Manager, Feature Race, quote: “We are partially satisfied at the end of the first event of the year, as it placed Trident Motorsport at the top of the Team Championship. Having all the cars in the points is certainly a positive result, but we lacked a little more sprint to allow Meguetounif, struggling with degradation, to defend his third place on his debut. Fornaroli, who was slowed down at the start by a car that stalled in front of him, could not recover beyond seventh place. We are also happy with the fifth place achieved by Santiago Ramos. I think we have a line-up with a good margin for growth this year, but we will have to work with great consistency and determination to be competitive on all tracks."