Trident has announced Alessio Lorandi as the replacement for the ousted Santino Ferrucci for the rest of the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship season.
The Italian thus graduates from the GP3 Series where he races for the same team currently and has scored 42 points in the four rounds – with a podium in Red Bull Ring, as he sits seventh in the drivers’ standings.
This weekend’s Hungaroring round will be his first in the F2 car alongside former teammate Arjun Maini. The Italian and the Indian have shared teams in two different series already in 2015 and 2017 respectively.
They first raced together in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship in 2015 with Van Amersfoort Racing and last year they were together in GP3 with Jenzer Motorsport. They share a cordial relationship with each other.
“I’m really happy and extremely motivated,” said Lorandi. “I will need to adapt myself to the car really quickly and there will be a lot of things to learn. I am working hard with the team to prepare for my debut at Hungaroring.
“I am really excited about this amazing new challenge.” Team Manager Giacomo Ricci added: “We are delighted to promote Alessio Lorandi to our line-up for the FIA Formula 2 Championship.
“His experience and driving style impressed Team Trident’s technical staff, and they believe he is ready to take a step up to Formula 2. Lorandi will receive maximum support from the team so he will be able to quickly learn all the secrets of the new series for him.
“With Alessio and Arjun, the team will be able to rely on a tight-knit pairing. They have already been team-mates in Formula 3 [and GP3 Series] so we are sure that they will work well together.”
As Formula Rapida reported earlier, the news was confirmed on Tuesday by Trident as it fights a legal case with its former driver Ferrucci for non-payment after the American was banned by the FIA for breaking serious regulations during the Silverstone round.
The team has had an up and down season so far with luck not favouring them on multiple occasions as it sits last in the teams’ standings with only 30 points of which Maini has scored the maximum at 23.
