Trident wraps up positive Spa-Francorchamps weekend

After the pole position and second place achieved on Saturday, Trident was back on track yesterday for the second qualifying session and second race of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine at Spa-Francorchamps.

In the second qualifying session, Roman Bilinski confirmed the great potential he showed in Q1 with the fourth-fastest lap in Group B. The British racer of Polish heritage fought hard for the top 10, but a competitor pushed him into the grass at high speed. Bilinski couldn't do anything to keep control on the wet grass but avoided making contact with the barriers. His race basically concluded there, while the other driver involved in the incident was penalized 25 seconds.

Nicola Lacorte and Ruiqi Liu had another positive showing, recovering several spots. Lacorte fought back with great overtaking maneuvers from P23 to P15, followed by Liu, who solidified this weekend's progress in P16.

The next round of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine is scheduled to run in two weeks at Zandvoort.

Roman Bilinski: “A frustrating end of the day. Qualifying 2 was very strong, with a P4 in group B which I think we can be really proud of, as it was the maximum we could achieve. In the race unfortunately I got pushed off and put into a spin, a big shame as I was looking for good points. Overall I think we had an extremely positive weekend, with a pole position and a P2 in Race 1. We can be proud of ourselves, so full push into Zandvoort and let’s see what happens”.

Nicola Lacorte: "Overall we had a tricky weekend. In Qualifying 1 we were a bit unlucky, but we were able to recover well in Race 1. In Q2 we also struggled with my pace and adapting to the car. It was very tricky as the gaps were really close and every mistake cost many positions. Again, we had a big recovery in Race 2, showing a very good pace. I’m happy to see this improvement and hope to keep it on in the next round”.

Ruiqi Liu: “I didn’t get the best qualifying during the two days, but the race pace was strong. I was able to make some good recovery, climbing back from last to P18 in Race 1. Unfortunately today I lost many places due to a mistake in Lap 1. The car felt really good the whole weekend, it just was a shame not to maximize our performance. Still, I think we did a really good step from Hockenheim and I look forward to Zandvoort”.