Photo: Fotospeedy
BVM Racing’s Tymek Kucharczyk dominated Euroformula’s first race of the weekend at the Hungaroring.
Track action began with pre-event testing on Thursday, and Kucharczyk set a 1m36.204s to lead the way by 0.179 seconds over Nielsen Racing’s Ed Pearson.
Joining BVM’s line-up for his third Euroformula outing at the Hungaroring in four years was local driver and two-time Austrian Formula 3 Cup champion Benjamin Berta.
Kucharczyk was fastest again on Friday morning in free practice one, posting a 1m35.552s to go 0.326s faster than Motopark’s Jose Garfias. Motopark’s Michael Shin improved from seventh to fifth overall by topping FP2 with a 1m36.264s.
Shin was fastest at first in qualifying on Saturday morning, then Kucharczyk and Pearson lowered the pace. Although Shin was then able to move back ahead with successive improvements that brought the pace down to 1m34.39s, Kucharczyk did the same afterwards and clinched pole with a 1m34.138s before improving by a further 0.024s.
His team-mate Yevan David got within 0.079s of his pole time, and Shin found no more pace. He qualified third, 0.047s ahead of Garfias, and team-mate Everett Stack was 0.384s back in fifth.
David was due to start race one from eighth, but gained back a spot on the grid when Shin lined up at the back. Kucharczyk was therefore unchallenged at the start, and romped away to a 12.759s win over Garfias.
David charged up to fourth on lap one, but Stack then went around the outside of him at turn 13 to knock him back down one place.
Shin was also on the rise, clearing Pearson on lap two then diving past David into turn one on lap three. Motopark’s Diego de la Torre was third, but an off allowed Stack to then barge past at turn 12 on lap 13. He was overtaken by Shin at turn two a lap later.
Pearson overtook David on lap 10, and after an off he fell behind team-mate Fernando Barrichello too on the penultimate lap.
The result means David is now only 10 points clear of Shin in the title fight, with Kucharczyk one point further back.
Race results (17 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tymek Kucharczyk | BVM Racing | 27m18.421s |
| 2 | Jose Garfias | Motopark | +12.759s |
| 3 | Everett Stack | Motopark | +14.910s |
| 4 | Michael Shin | Motopark | +16.309s |
| 5 | Diego de la Torre | Motopark | +23.527s |
| 6 | Ed Pearson | Nielsen Racing | +25.100s |
| 7 | Fernando Barrichello | Motopark | +27.060s |
| 8 | Yevan David | Motopark | +28.924s |
| 9 | Benjamin Berta | BVM Racing | +29.155s |
| 10 | Shawn Rashid | Nielsen Racing | +29.692s |
| 11 | Finley Green | Nielsen Racing | +2 laps |
| Pole: Kucharczayk, 1m34.159s Fastest lap: Kucharczayk, 1m35.502s
Championship standings |
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