Dennis Hauger took the win after taking lead in sprint FIA F2 race in Hungaroring, as Gabriele Mini won in F3.

F2:

Reverse grid pole-sitter Kush Maini made a good start in sprint F2 race in Hungaroring in his Campos car but lost the lead of MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger after a lock-up. It allowed DAMS’ Ayumu Iwasa to follow through to take second.

Maini then lost to Prema’s Oliver Bearman too but the Indian came back on him in a fine move at Turn 1 to retake third. ART’s Theo Pourchaire was close behind after winning over MP Motorsport’s Jehan Daruvala, who tried a move on Lap 1.

ART’s Victor Martins was seventh from Hitech GP’s Isack Hadjar in the points places, as Virtuosi’s Jack Doohan jumped Prema’s Frederik Vesti in the Top 10. It was a steady race then on with Hauger leading comfortably and train led by Iwasa.

The Virtual Safety Car provided some drama when Trident’s Clement Novalak hit Campos’ Ralph Boschung which led the Swiss to retire as the incident will be investigated by the stewards. DAMS’ Arthur Leclerc was caught out too in this melee.

The re-start saw Hauger led Iwasa and Maini, while Pourchaire got Bearman just as it went green. The Brit wasn’t happy with it as he came under pressure from Daruvala, who had Martins on his tail along with Hadjar.

The last 10 laps saw the tyre game being played out with Iwasa starting to push in his chase of Hauger. But behind Pourchaire started to pressure Maini where the Frenchman finally made the move in Turn 1 when they had small contact.

Maini tried to cutback but made small contact with Pourchaire’s rear which allowed Bearman to clear him for fourth. The Indian driver then had Daruvala, Martins and Hadjar on his tail, with Vesti clearing Doohan in the battle for ninth.

The fight for podium took a turn when Bearman came on Pourchaire to snatch third. At the front, Hauger had enough at hand to win the sprint F2 race from Iwasa as Bearman held on third from Pourchaire in a tight drivers’ championship battle.

Daruvala took fifth on the final lap from Maini, who resisted Martins and Hadjar for sixth which kept Vesti and Doohan off the points list in the Top 10.

 

 

F3:

In his first front row start of Formula 3, Bedrin didn’t let inexperience phase him. Nailing his getaway gave him the run he needed to swoop around the outside of Minì and snatch the lead out of Turn 1. Bortoleto tried to execute the same move on Mansell for third, but the Trident driver couldn’t keep it within the white lines, going wide across the run-off. Meanwhile, Feature Race polesitter O’Sullivan also capitalised as the lights went out, making up three places to P9.

Further back, Tommy Smith and Sebastián Montoya made contact on the opening lap, with the Van Amersfoort Racing driver pitched into the air and across the gravel. They both pitted for repairs, joined by Hugh Barter and Ido Cohen, the latter retiring at the end of Lap 1. On Lap 3, Colapinto put the pressure on Tsolov for seventh, forcing the ART Grand Prix driver into a mistake to get the switchback done through Turn 2.

Having been waiting patiently behind Mansell, Bortoleto pounced for third on Lap 7. Utilising DRS, the Trident driver sailed from a long way back down the inside of the Campos Racing driver into Turn 1. Aron tried to do the same two laps later with a great run out of the final corner but couldn’t make the late move stick and ran wide.

Out front, Bedrin couldn’t quite shake off the #15 Hitech Pulse-Eight car and left the door open on Lap 8 for Minì to breeze past back up into the lead on the approach to Turn 1. Attempting to find his way through on Tsolov, O’Sullivan tried moves left, right and centre as the Bulgarian driver got his elbows out to defend eighth. Locking up at the apex, the #3 PREMA Racing car tagged the rear of the ART, forcing O’Sullivan to box with front wing damage.

Minì’s efforts to build an advantage over Bedrin and seven second gap to Bortoleto was swiftly wiped away on Lap 13. Montoya came to a halt between Turns 12 and 13 to trigger a Virtual Safety Car, which was quickly converted into a full Safety Car. Once racing resumed on Lap 17 the field faced a three-lap sprint to the line. Aron instantly forced Mansell onto the defensive for fourth. Having been unable to get past at Turn 1, the Estonian got the job done around the outside of Turn 3, enabling Oliver Goethe to also find his way through on the #24 Campos car.

Josep María Martí’s efforts to climb back into the points from P13 unravelled on the restart, as the Spaniard was tagged from behind by Tsolov, sending the pair spinning out of the top 10 and triggering a brief Virtual Safety Car appearance. With one lap of racing left, Bortoleto fought Bedrin hard for second as the Jenzer driver struggled with his rear medium tyres. Bedrin made his #26 car as wide as possible but a bad run out of the penultimate corner handed the Trident driver the opportunity he needed to snatch second place.

Minì reached the chequered flag 4.2 seconds clear of the duelling pair. Aron added more points to his rookie tally in fourth ahead of Goethe. Mansell ultimately had to settle for sixth ahead of Colapinto. Jonny Edgar, Grégoire Saucy and Dino Beganovic were all beneficiaries of the late restart to round out the final points scorers in eighth, ninth and 10th respectively.

 

 

More to come

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