GreenBkk.com Ferrari F1 | FDA – The increasingly international Marciello at Spa for the FIA Formula 3 Trophy

FDA – The increasingly international Marciello at Spa for the FIA Formula 3 Trophy

Maranello, 30 July – The fourth round of the Italian Formula Three Championship may not be scheduled to take place at Spa until next week, but Raffaele Marciello brought forward his journey to race this weekend at the Belgian circuit. The 16-year-old, who is one of the participants in the Ferrari Driver Academy, was brought in by the Prema Power team to take part in the seventh round of the British Formula Three Championship. That took place this weekend at the very same Ardennes circuit – and also counted towards the FIA Formula 3 Trophy.

So this was an international debut for Marciello – even if it wasn’t without its problems given the high level of competition, including the main players in the F3 Euro Series. Yesterday Marciello was involved in two of the three rounds of the weekend’s competition. In the first race he was forced to retire after just a few laps while in the second he had to settle for 18th place.

But it was from today’s Race 3 that the young talent from the Ferrari academy was able to take the greatest satisfaction. In the longest race of the weekend he finished in fifth place, showing what he can do on at Spa, a track that is as legendary as it is technical. The Ferrari Driver Academy racer kept up a good pace for the whole duration of the 40-minute race. He made up two positions on the seventh place on the grid that he took in yesterday’s qualifying session and proved he was very competitive alongside local driver Laurens Vanthoor, who took fourth place. “For Marciello this experience has been excellent training for his date here next weekend with the Italian championship,” said Luca Baldisserri, head of the FDA programme. “That will be coming to Spa too and this was a perfect chance to test out his abilities and his talent away from his usual championship. Today’s fifth place is a good result and it confirms that his preparation is going in the best possible way.”

Credit: Ferrari S.p.A. (www.ferrari.com)