After a strong showing at the Daytona 24 Hours in which he finished seventh, Devlin DeFrancesco is keen to return his attention to single-seaters with the inaugural FIA Formula 3 Championship driving for Trident.
The Canadian-Italian got his first taste of the new machinery at Magny-Cours in a shakedown last week, immediately posting several competitive times demonstrating his adaptability.
Making the switch to F3’s predecessor, GP3 Series, mid-way through last season and started his first race with no testing under his belt adapting quickly whilst matching his team-mates in speed and coming close to points on several occasions.
DeFrancesco will next get a taste of his car in the first official test in Paul Ricard (20-21 March). Two further tests are scheduled for April in Barcelona (9-10) and Budapest (17-18).
The series will form part of the Formula 1 support programme with the eight round series kicking off at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in May and finishing in Sochi in October.
‘I’m super looking forward to this year. I started to work with Giacomo (Ricci – Team Manager) and everybody from Trident at the tail end of last year,” said DeFrancesco. “These guys are pretty unbelievable, I have a great engineer, Andrea Mancini, and the mechanics and really switched on as well. The new car feels quite a bit different to last year. We learned a fair few things at the shakedown and I look forward to making more progress at the official test at Paul Ricard. it’s going to be a hard year it’s such a competitive field but I’m ready to bounce back from a difficult ‘18”
Ricci, added: “We are delighted to welcome Devlin DeFrancesco. He really impressed us with the skills and consistency he showed last season. We also had the chance to evaluate him first-hand in post-season testing at Abu Dhabi, and he really impressed the technical staff of Team Trident, so we quickly found the right chemistry together. I am sure that all the best conditions are now in place for a high-quality season.”
