HitechGP’s Enaam Ahmed made it two wins in a row in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship in Race 3 after starting from pole and extends his points lead both in the main as well as the rookie standings after a dominating weekend.
The British driver kept his cool in a three-way fight with Motopark’s Dan Ticktum and Prema’s Marcus Armstrong at the start – the Red Bull junior was ahead in Turn 1 but went slightly wide bringing Armstrong at his side when they collided.
Armstrong’s suspension broke as he limped back into the pits with Ticktum managing to continue but he was behind Ahmed. At the same time, Prema’s Mick Schumacher shot into third from ninth bringing Motopark’s Juri Vips along in fourth.
The two drivers were helped after Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala nearly stalled on the start before he got going while HitechGP’s Alex Palou pitted for tyres and Prema’s Robert Shwartzman retired. Behind Vips was Prema’s Guanyu Zhou and Carlin’s Sacha Fenstraz in the Top 6.
At the front, it was easy going for Ahmed as he build on a comfortable lead which he stretched it to 7.225s in the end to make it a double win this weekend at Hungaroring with Ticktum and Schumacher completing the rostrum – the German taking his first podium of the season.
In fourth was Vips, scoring his best result with Zhou in fifth, Fenestraz sixth and Prema’s Ralf Aron in seventh – the Estonian clearing Motopark’s Fabio Scherer early in the race to gain a place. The Swiss driver finished eighth but was handed a five-second penalty.
As a result he dropped to 10th which promoted Motopark’s Jonathan Aberdein to eighth and Carlin’s Nikita Toirtskiy in ninth – the Russian scoring his first championship points. In the end, it was heartbreak for Daruvala who missed on a point by a mere 0.281s.
The Force India protégé dropped back to 17th after his start trouble and recovered well to move himself into 11th after clearing as many as six cars to fight his way into the point scoring position, but it wasn’t to be in the end.
Positions 12-20: Sebastian Fernandez, Keyvan Andres, Artem Petrov, Devlin Defrancesco, Ferdinand Habsburg, Marino Sato, Ameya Vaidyanathan, Petru Florescu, Julian Hanses.
DNF: Ben Hingeley, Armstrong, Shwartzman, Palou.