Trident Racing will hope to break into the points when the GP2 Asia Series heads to Indonesia after a solid start to the season in Dubai.
The team went into the weekend with Ho-Pin Tung and Harald Schlegelmilch looking to impress, but the opening race didn't go to plan for Tung when he stalled his engine at the start of the green flag lap and was forced to start from pit-lane.
He then used the race as an extended test session before taking the flag in 22nd place while team-mate Schlegelmilch finished his maiden GP2 race in 14th, despite suffering a drive-through penalty.
"We completed the first race of the GP2 Asia Series with some little disappointments, but we're heading towards the second one aware of the high level of the pre-season work we made,” managing director Alessandro Alunni Bravi said. “Ho-Ping Tung's race was conditioned by the mistake made at the start, virtually ending the day started with reasonable hopes to get into the top-ten, especially considering the mistakes committed by two rivals up front. The points were a realistic goal though.
“The maiden GP2 race of Schlegelmilch was underlined by several positive aspects, like a great start and a constant improvement in his laptimes. He proved to have the right potential to progress with further improvements."
Tung enjoyed a more solid run in race two as he battled through the field into the top ten, with the action packed race this time going the way of Schlegelmilch,
The Latvian had climbed as high as eighth after starting in 14th but contact with another car forced him to pit and dropped him down the order to eventually finish 18th.
“Schlegelmilch put together a nice race, driving in an aggressive fashion, but paid the price of the inevitable risks that a recovering driver has to take,” team owner Maurizio Salvadori said. “It's a bit of a shame because even a single point would have been a great result for him on his GP2 debut. It's positive though that a good potential was clearly visible, and it'll be with no doubt a starting point for the forthcoming races.
![Ho-Pin Tung - Trident Racing [pic credit: GP2 Series]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/404030.jpg)
