Interview
Fornaroli ‘not giving up’ title fight after charge through to points in Spielberg Feature Race
Championship contender Leonardo Fornaroli did not have the best of weekends in Spielberg, but the Trident driver is resolute he will fight for the Drivers’ title right to the very end of the season.
The Italian had been set for a top 10 start in the Feature Race but lost his fastest effort to a track limits violation, dropping him from a provisional eighth position down to 24th.
It prompted a fightback through the field on Sunday that resulted in a points finish, as he picked up two for P9, a hard-earned reward for his efforts.
“I’m actually happy about today. Starting from back in P24, P9 is a huge recovery,” he surmised after the race. “I had a very good start, and I managed to gain some positions straight away.
“The race was long so then I had to manage the tyres, but also to recover positions, so it wasn’t easy. Lap after lap, I started gaining a lot of positions, even some with aggressive moves. Then after the Virtual Safety Car, I managed to get one position right at the restart to finish P9.”
It was a weekend of results that dropped the Trident driver to third in the Drivers’ Championship, behind rivals Luke Browning and Gabriele Minì of Hitech Pulse-Eight and PREMA Racing respectively.
The former added a second Feature Race victory to his tally in ’24 while Minì finished as the runner-up, opening up the points deficit to third. Still, Fornaroli says that he is in the hunt, currently on 86 points, nine behind compatriot Minì and 20 away from leader Browning heading to Silverstone.
“It wasn’t the weekend I was hoping for after the track limits in Qualifying, that cost me a lot of points. But we are back next weekend in Silverstone.
“I’m not giving up. I’ll come back even stronger than before to secure as many points as possible to keep the Championship alive.”
Looking ahead to Silverstone, Fornaroli says that his charge through the pack has given him a boost of confidence after a frustrating Friday in Spielberg having lost his best flying lap.
After being forced to make some bold moves, the Italian driver says he will take the experience into the final leg of the triple-header and reset with the final rounds of the Championship fast approaching.
HIGHLIGHTS: Luke Browning wins Spielberg Feature Race from the front
Next up, a circuit in which he claimed his maiden Formula 3 Pole Position at last season and first Feature Race podium with P2 in 2023.
“I did quite a lot of overtaking today, but I got overtaken actually into Turn 3 at one point and came back at the driver at Turn 4 with a crazy move on the inside. The space was very small, but I managed to get past him again.
“It gave me a lot of experience in overtaking. That is a boost to my confidence from that point of view and now I’m very confident going into the last part of the season with four races to go.
“Not doing track limits in Qualifying will help! But joking aside, I need to always be in the top positions in Qualifying and to score as many points as possible without throwing away any opportunities.”