The fifth round of the 2012 GP3 Series was held last weekend at the German Hockenheim venue. The races provided some contrasting emotions for the whole Trident Racing stable in a pretty intense turn of events. Giovanni Venturini handed Trident their maiden podium in the series after having continued building momentum in Germany following to his Silverstone debut.
From celebrating a great 3rd-place finish, the team then went to the concern about the health of Vicky Piria, who was involved in a fiery crash just a few corners off the start of Race 2. Vicky hit one of the cars she had in front, took off and crashed into another one before ending his run into the barriers outside turn 6.
It's been a vicious crash that worried everybody on-track. Fortunately enough, some good news came from the track's medical center and later from the Ludwigshafen hospital. No injuries are to report.
After having being held overnight in hospital for precaution, Piria fled back to Italy and will be lined-up next weekend in the upcoming round of the GP3 Series at Budapest.
Giovanni Venturini
"First thing I want to say is that the best moment of the weekend has been when we got the news of Vicky being OK and unhurt. Everybody got scared and I'm happy to know she'll be back running at Budapest. My weekend has been really positive. As happened in Silverstone, the weather conditions didn't exactly play in our favour, but especially in qualifying and during the races all the decisions taken by myself and with the team turned out to be the right ones. In Race 1 the circumstances worked well for me as I brought home my first GP3 Series trophy and some valuable points. At the start of Race 2 I did pretty well but Daly managed to pull a move on me. Then when the safety-car was announced I slowed down immediately and I'm pretty convinced that Ellinas passed me after the yellow flags came out. The stewards took no action but it's been a great weekend for me and I hope to be back on the same path next weekend."
Vicky Piria
"Despite I was at my first run at Hockenheim, I started pretty well in practice by ending up in 11th, 1.5 seconds off the lead. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the right space in qualifying, and I only had the chance to push without traffic in one lap. So I had to content with a 23rd-place start for race 1. Thanks to the great strategy planned by the team, we managed to get close to the top-10. I finished in 15th but I fought with the championship's frontrunners all the time with some really good laptimes. Race 2 has been pretty short. After the start, nearing turn six, all the pack I had in front braked early to avoid a melee in the middle of the hairpin. I was left without any option because I had two cars on the left, so I hit the car of Cregan, took off and after two hard hits I ended up into the barriers. I tried to get out of the car but my back was sore and I was pretty shocked so I couldn't make it, but in the end everything played out well. I was concerned about my back but all the scans came back negative. I'll be off for a few days of break without simulator training, but I will be back at Budapest!"
