Photo: Chinese F4
Trident has completed its 2024 Formula Regional European Championship line-up with the signing of Ruiqi Liu.
The 17-year-old Chinese racer steps up from Formula 4, which be debuted in last year. In a 2022 ADAC F4 cameo he scored four points, and this year he competed in four different series.
Liu’s main programme was with US Racing. He came 30th in Italian F4 with three 13th places being his best results, was fourth in the Formula Winter Series with three podiums against a small grid, and in Euro 4 came 14th in the standings.
Despite only contesting two of the five rounds, Liu also managed to come fourth in Chinese F4 with Smart Life Racing. He claimed three wins and four other podiums from eight races and was on pole three times out of a possible four.
“It’s a real pleasure for me to join Trident for the 2024 season,” said Liu. “During winter testing, I had the chance to meet every team member and all of them have been very nice and friendly to me. I saw how everybody works, and I can tell that they put in a lot of effort. I’m really looking forward to 2024 to race with this team and try to achieve the results I want.”
Third-year FREC racer Roman Bilinski and Italian F4 race-winner Niko Lacorte will be Liu’s team-mates next year.
Trident’s team principal Maurizio Salvadori added: “[Liu] immediately impressed us with his dedication to work, his ability to learn, and his good knowledge of basic technique. Considering his limited single-seater experience, there is obviously room for improvement in some areas, but we are confident that the qualities we saw in Ruiqi are an excellent foundation on which we can work together to achieve our common goals.”