Nikola Tsolov, ART Grand Prix, Laurens van Hoepen, ART Grand Prix
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Nikola Tsolov took his third Formula 3 victory of the season, his first in a feature race, as a late safety car denied team-mate Laurens van Hoepen the opportunity to effect a pass after sitting patiently in second throughout.
The ART pair had lined up alongside each other on the front row of the grid and went wheel-to-wheel into Turn 1, veering towards the pit wall as Tsolov overcame his pole-sitting team-mate.
This move also saw the pair close the door on championship chasing Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident), with fourth-place starter Noel Leon seizing the opportunity to move his Van Amersfoort Racing car into the final podium position.
Despite van Hoepen’s radio messages requesting that ART swap it’s drivers positions so he could better preserve his tyres, the team elected against using team orders. Just as a lunge looked imminent, the safety car was deployed in the final two laps, denying a thrilling finale.
As is typical at the Hungaroring, overtaking was at a premium, with Christian Mansell the most notable mover as he climbed from eighth on the grid to fifth at the chequered flag – his most notable move coming with a well-rehearsed lunge at Turn 1 on Santiago Ramos (Trident) for fifth on lap three.
Silverstone double-winner Arvid Lindblad (Prema) saw his forgettable weekend come to a premature close when he tangled with Matías Zagazeta on the run to Turn 4 on lap 21, with the championship contender appearing to take a wider-than-normal line on the straight, leaving the Jenzer driver with nowhere to go.
As a result, Zagazeta retired into an escape road while Lindblad was left beached on a kerb.
Despite the lack of action, the Hungarian feature race has had a huge effect on the drivers’ championship standings with Fornaroli and Mansell closing ground on the top three - Gabriele Mini (Prema), Luke Browning (Hitech) and Arvid Lindblad (Prema) – who all failed to scored after starting down the order and struggled to make ground in the Callum Voisin-led (Rodin) DRS train.
Fornaroli’s fourth place means the top four in the championship are now covered by 10 points, with Mansell now only 25 points off the top spot.
Dino Beganovic (Prema) and Oliver Goethe (Campos) are the last of those with a realistic chance now, after finishing 10th and ninth respectively. Goethe is the lower-placed driver in the standings and sits 32 back on the lead with only two weekends remaining.
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Source: Autosport