Camara crowned FIA F3 champion with win at wet Hungaroring

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Trident’s Rafael Camara was crowned FIA Formula 3 champion with a round to spare by winning the feature race at the Hungaroring.

Wet conditions meant a rolling start was used, and Camara led title rival Mari Boya without issue as further back Prema’s Ugo Ugochukwu took sixth from Trident’s Charlie Wurz at turn one due to the latter taking too much kerb and MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz (also in title contention) spun down the order at the exit of the chicane.

On lap two he went around the outside of Van Amersfoort Racing’s Theophile Nael at turn two, as the top two broke away.

The field was brought back together by the safety car at the end of lap four due to Rodin Motorsport’s Roman Bilinski colliding with AIX Racing’s Brad Benavides at turn 13. Bilinski turned in ahead on the inside, while Benavides sought to use more speed around the outside and made it work until the pair made contact and Benavides ended up in the barrier.

Racing resumed on lap seven, and Ugochukwu’s next overtaking target was Hitech GP’s Gerrard Xie. He went around the outside of him at turn five, but Xie lost control mid-corner and the resulting contact put both out and necessitated the safety car’s return.

Already up to 13th from 21st on the grid was Camara’s main title rival Nikola Tsolov, and he frequently matched the leader’s pace as the track dried after the next restart on lap 11.

It took one lap of green flag action for him to get up to 10th, then he cleared Trident’s Noah Stromsted and ART Grand Prix’s James Wharton lap 12. MP’s Alessandro Giusti was overtaken as lap 14 began, and Prema’s Brando Badoer as it ended, then Tsolov had a large gap to Nael to close down.

While he managed to do it, there were no more passes and sixth place not only ended his title hopes but also meant he dropped behind Boya to third in the standings.

Camara was able to gap Boya by several seconds at times after the Spaniard had been able to put pressure on the Brazilian early on. They finished 1.937 seconds apart, with Prema’s Noel Leon stealing the fastest lap away from Boya at the end.

After Xie and Ugochukwu’s retirements, Wurz ran in fourth behind ART GP’s Tuukka Taponen. Neither could match the top two, and there was an 11s gap between second and third after Wurz went side-by-side with Taponen on the penultimate lap.

ART GP’s Laurens Van Hoepen came from 19th on the grid to eighth after passing Giusti late on, while team-mate James Wharton threw away a potential points finish by pitting for slick tyres and being lapped. Hitech’s Martinius Stenshorne and MP’s Bruno del Pino made the same mistake.

Race results (23 laps)