The third edition of the GP3 Series took off last weekend at Barcelona, and for Trident Racing it's been the start of a brand-new adventure. The Italian-based team fielded two Renault-powered Dallara cars for Antonio Spavone and Vicky Piria, both of them at their first experience in the series too. The 2012 opener featured 26 cars on the starting grid.

Both Piria and Spavone got in touch with the great environment of Formula 1, and despite some quite expectable first-time small mistakes that help drivers to raise their game, they experienced some positive runs. The results didn't came, but the whole team left with the clear goal of scoring their first points of the season in the upcoming round at the Monte Carlo Grand Prix.

Antonio Spavone

"There has been a lot of positives for me in this first GP3 weekend of the year, but also regrets due to some incidents that compromised the overall results. At the start of race 1, my car slightly moved away from its stall when I put the first gear despite I had my foot on the brake. Although I didn't get any advantage, the false start sensor captured the movement. That meant a drive-through and a recovery race ended up in 17th. In race 2 my start has been really good and I managed to fight back from 17th almost to the top-10. Unfortunately, my hopes ended early because I got an hard bump from the rear and ended up in the gravel trap with serious mechanical damage. My neck was sore but now there's no pain and I'm ready to prepare for the next round, set at the historical Monte Carlo venue, a completely new track for me."

Vicky Piria

“The weekend started in a tough way, because a small but decisive intercooler issue caused me a loss of power in qualifying. I tried to stay on-track as long as I could but I couldn't achieve better than 25th. In race 1, I recovered up to the 16th position but a safety-car condition with six lap to go led to a re-start in which I put two wheels on the dirt. When I went back to the throttle I ended up spinning. In race 2 I started from the 12th row and managed to climb six spots back. Thanks to several drive-through penalties, many top racers got penalized and I've been able to keep their pace without too much tire wear. I can't wait to be back on-track at Monte Carlo for the next round of 2012 in order to verify the progress showed at Barcelona."