DAMS Lucas Oil showed solid race pace on its first visit to Monaco in FIA Formula 3, although a difficult qualifying prevented the team from scoring points.

Christian Ho and Matìas Zagazeta were 10th and 11th in Group B and Group A respectively in qualifying, meaning they would line up 20th and 21st for the two races.

The duo made progress in Saturday’s Sprint Race despite struggling with tyre degradation, with Ho climbing to 15th and Zagazeta 17th on the challenging street circuit.

Following set-up improvements, Ho and Zagazeta showed their pace and ability to stay out of trouble in the Feature, avoiding incidents around them to secure a repeat of the previous day’s result, taking 15th and 17th. Unfortunately, Alpine Academy Driver Nicola Lacorte was forced to retire from both races.

Formula 3 hits the halfway point next weekend when it travels to Barcelona, Spain, for Round 5 of the 2025 campaign.

Christian Ho: “We didn’t have the pace to fight at the front, but still performed well in both races to take a pair of P15 finishes. For us it was all about staying out of trouble and maximising track time, which we did. We go again in Barcelona, a track I enjoy and have many fond memories from, so I hope we will be able to fight for strong points there.”

Qualifying: 20th | Sprint Race: 15th | Feature Race: 15th

Matìas Zagazeta: “It was a complicated weekend for us but we still showed a lot of improvements. We didn’t make the most of our potential in qualifying but kept it clean in both races. Now looking forward to Barcelona and aiming to end the triple-header strongly.”

Qualifying: 21st | Sprint Race: 17th | Feature Race: 17th

Nicola Lacorte: “Not a great weekend for us, a miscommunication in qualifying meant we were disqualified from the session and had to start both races last. From there, we just tried to gather data an experience to help us going forwards. In Race 1 I was hit from behind by another driver, and on Sunday we tested some options to get more information from the car.”

Qualifying: 30th | Sprint Race: DNF | Feature Race: DNF

Charles Pic, Team Owner: “We had solid qualifying pace, but unfortunately a few mistakes cost our drivers a better starting position. It’s difficult in Monaco because once tyre temperature is lost, it’s hard to get it back in the perfect window. In the Sprint Race we found it difficult to manage the tyres, which resulted in graining and we didn’t have the speed needed to compete. We improved it for the Feature, which allowed Christian and Matìas to move forwards, but there is still more pace to find. On Nicola’s side, starting last for both races gave us an opportunity to test some set-up changes. Sadly he was involved in an incident on Saturday and had to retire on Sunday because his tyres were losing grip quickly. We’ve learned from this weekend and will look to come back strongly in Barcelona.”

Image: Dutch Photo Agency