Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Gabriele Mini reignited his Formula 2 championship hopes with sprint race victory at the Hungaroring while chief rival Nikola Tsolov came to blows with Sebastian Montoya.
Monotya led away at lights out having claimed reversed-grid pole on Friday, leading Mini and Tsolov while behind Joshua Duerksen found skated into the turn 2 run off and down to ninth.
By lap eight, any gap Montoya had extended at the start was slashed as Mini closed up to the rear of the Colombian and looked to take the lead away.
Having been told to take his time, Mini waited till lap 17 to make his move, forcing Montoya into a mistake at turn 1 before storming up the inside to take the race lead.
Tsolov now looked to keep touch with his Italian championship rival, diving to the inside of turn 1 on lap 21 in an attempt to pass Montoya. The move was optimistic though and the pair made contact, leaving both with terminal steering damage.
Both drivers were able to recover to a safe place on track meaning Mini’s advantage extended further with DAMS’ Dino Beganovic moving into second ahead of Trident’s Laurens Van Hoepen.
With the top five spread out, focus shifted to the closest battle on track which was Noel Leon and Durksen who locked horns over seventh place.
The Campos driver dived to the outside and locked up but stayed wheel to wheel with the Invicta driver, taking advantage of the switch back move into turn 2, leaving the Paraguayan on the grass and dropping down to eighth.
Mini’s grasp on victory though remained strong and the MP Motorsport driver cruised home to claim victory and reignite his championship challenge.
The Italian finished over three seconds clear of Beganovic who returned to the podium after a four-race absence. Van Hoepen completed the podium positions, a second adrift of Beganovic but unable to make an impression on the Swede.
Camara came home fourth, leading home the ART duo of Kush Maini and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak with Leon victorious in the battle between him and Duerksen for seventh.