GP3 Series: New team for Kevin Jörg
GP3 CHAMPIONSHIP Kevin Jörg will contest his second GP3 season with Trident Motorsport instead of DAMS. On Sunday, Giacomi Ricci and the Swiss sealed the new collaboration with a handshake, and it was officially announced on Wednesday. For Kevin Jörg, 2016 was a season to forget. Except for the first race in Barcelona and the finale in Abu Dhabi [...]
For Kevin Jörg, 2016 was a season to forget. Apart from the first race in Barcelona and the finale in Abu Dhabi, he failed to achieve any countable results with the Dallara GP3 from DAMS. "We rarely got the tires to work optimally," says Jörg, summing up the problem. Added to this was bad luck in the race and minor mistakes by the 21-year-old driver, which led to the mixed result.
But that's now a thing of the past, and the Swiss has been looking ahead for a long time. It was obvious that the collaboration with the French team would not be continued. Negotiations with Arden, where Kevin Jörg tested after the end of the season, did not lead to success. But Kevin is not sad about that, on the contrary. Since this week it is clear that he will drive for Trident Motorsport in 2017. The son of a garage owner from Weesen already tested with the team run by Giacomo Ricci in the fall of 2015 before deciding to join DAMS in coordination with Renault Sport and its sponsors, which in retrospect turned out to be a bad choice.
The son of ex-Sauber GP driver Jean Alesi becomes his teammate
After long negotiations, Ricci and Jörg sealed the new partnership with a handshake at sponsor Fredy Lienhard's New Year's reception last Sunday. Jörg took a seat in Jean Alesi's 1994 Ferrari 412 T1, which is among many other fantastic racing cars in Lienhard's world of experience (autobau) in Romanshorn. Alesi's son Giuliano and Ryan Tveter will be the talented junior's teammates in the upcoming GP3 season.
"I am delighted to be able to drive for Trident. With Antonio Fuoco's third place in 2016, the team proved that they can handle the new generation of cars and race for victories. They made me a very fair offer, which shows that Trident wants to achieve something with me," says the St. Gallen native, who is delighted about the new commitment.
"He is a strong rider and knows what he wants," says team boss Giacomo Ricci (31), praising his new rider from Switzerland. "It is now up to us to get the best out of him and prove that he can do more than he was able to show in 2016. Therefore, we need to improve his performance in qualifying in particular, because in various races he has shown great performances and catch-up performances from the back of the grid. If he starts further up front, it will be easier for him to fight for podiums."
