Ricci hails Verschoor’s ‘special’ Baku victory dedicated to the Salvadori family

Richard Verschoor gave himself and Trident their first Feature Race victory of the season in Baku, a result Team Manager Giacomo Ricci is dedicating to their Team Principal Maurizio Salvadori and his family.
In a shortened race following an early Red Flag, Verschoor made a good start from Pole Position, but lost the lead to ART Grand Prix driver Victor Martins late in the first stint.
However, a quick pit stop saw Verschoor and PREMA Racing’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli come back out ahead of Martins, giving him the net race lead.
FEATURE RACE: Verschoor wins in Baku after early Red Flag stoppage
Martins had good pace though and got past Antonelli before chasing down the Trident driver once more. However, Verschoor held on after putting in “qualifying laps” late on to take the win.
“I have mixed feelings,” said Ricci. “Of course, extremely happy and delighted with the result achieved by Richard Verschoor, starting from Pole Position it was also what I was looking for and I am really happy with the constant improvement from the team.
“In the last four rounds we have been on the podium with Richard, and we finally got the victory here, so it’s a great feeling. Importantly, last night I got a call, and we get told that the son of my boss, Mr Salvadori, the son Luca is no longer with us.
“He was an extremely nice guy, very passionate about motorsport, a special person, well known inside our group and we also did some GP3 testing with him, so he was really part of the team also because he had always been involved.
“I had the pleasure to also have a couple of vacations with him and he is a very beautiful person. Unfortunately, he is not with us anymore. It’s something very hard for the team and for Maurizio, first of all.
“He has all the support of the full team, and all the people around here are giving him the maximum support. This victory of course is fully dedicated to Luca, and Richard did something special. These things cannot be done without Richard Verschoor so once again thanks to him.”
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Ricci went on to speak about the pride he had watching the team on Sunday, revealing what he said to them before the race and what Verschoor had to battle with to take the win.
“What they did today is amazing,” continued Ricci. The victory basically came during the pit stop, we did the best pit stop of the paddock today. The guys were extremely focused. Before the race I said to them we had to dedicate this race to Luca and to Maurizio, so I want to see the machine in action.
“They did an unbelievable job and Richard kept focused for the full race. You know how tough it is here, he hit the wall, the steering wheel was bent, but he found the strength to cross the line in P1, and again we really want to dedicate this one to Luca Salvadori and our boss Maurizio.”
Next to Verschoor this weekend was debutant Christian Mansell, who will be with Trident for the remainder of the season. The Australian finished P8 in the Sprint, after starting from pole, and P10 in the Feature, giving him points in both races and Ricci was impressed by what he saw.
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“I have to say for the first weekend I have been extremely impressed with him,” revealed Ricci. “He did a brilliant job and was fast in Qualifying despite Free Practice being quite chaotic. We know how difficult it is to jump into a different car with no track time.
“He did good in Qualifying without making a mistake, qualifying P10. Yesterday he could hold P1 for some laps and then of course as a rookie he felt a little bit of tyre degradation but again it was very good learning for him and for him to do a result like this is a big plus.
“To end both races with points is something special and again another important point, yesterday starting from pole as a rookie he was very calm, had a mega start and was able to open the gap. So, really proud of him and we are looking forward to the next two race events and we are sure he will improve race by race.”