Fairclough flies to second GB3 win at Hungaroring opener

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Hitech GP’s Deagen Fairclough claimed his first GB3 victory of the season in Saturday’s opening contest in Budapest.

Home hero Martin Molnar claimed pole during qualifying earlier in the day, but the Rodin Motorsport driver was beaten off the line by fellow front-row starter Fairclough.

Molnar fought back with an attempted move on the outside through turn two before slotting back into second, while championship leader Nikita Bedrin maintained third and Rodin’s Maxim Rehm surged from ninth on the grid to fourth.

Fairclough quickly edged clear, as Bedrin had a couple of stabs as trying to pass Molnar early on.

The race was neutralised at the halfway stage when Abbi Pulling crashed out of 10th place at turn two. The Rodin driver clipped the rear of Rowan Campbell-Pilling’s car under braking, the Xcel Motorsport driver having made a late jink to the outside in front of her while battling Elite Motorsport’s Kyuho Lee.

There was a further retirement during the safety car period, when Hillspeed’s Aurelia Nobels pulled off the circuit with a puncture.

Racing resumed with six minutes of allotted time remaining. Fairclough made a fast restart to pull clear once more, but Molnar lost out to both Bedrin and Rehm at turn one and slipped to fourth.

Fairclough remained ahead until to the finish to take the win by 0.8 seconds, while Bedrin slightly extended his points advantage by beating nearest rival Rehm to second by almost 2s.

Molnar finished 2s clear of Xcel’s Lucas Fluxa, with Lee taking a lonely sixth, and Campbell-Pilling led home Hillspeed’s Peter Bouzinelos, Hitech’s debutant Jacob Micallef and VRD’s Patricio Gonzalez for seventh. 

Gonzalez’s brother Rodrigo and Arden’s Lewis Gilbert both retired in the pitlane in the closing stages.

Race results (14 laps)