Sato beats Dunner in Euroformula Open chase at Hungaroring

Photo: Fotospeedy

Marino Sato extended his Euroformula Open championship lead with a fifth win of the season under pressure from Lukas Dunner.

Teo Mart?n Motorsport driver Dunner took his second pole of the season in qualifying, and both he and Motopark?s Sato had a bit of a wheelspin off the start line. The race-deciding move came at Turn 1, as Sato swooped around the outside of Dunner after initially being pinched to the pitwall by the poleman.

Sato quickly pulled away, but Dunner responded and for the majority of the race they were separated by less than a second. Dunner filled Sato?s mirrors on several occasions, but both had just enough to respond to the other. In the closing laps they started setting personal best sectors, and finished 0.403 seconds apart.

Red Bull juniors Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, both driving for Motopark, finished third and fourth. Tsunoda now drops to fourth in the standings behind Dunner, while the gap between Sato and Lawson at the front has grown to 64 points.

Double R Racing?s Linus Lundqvist passed Carlin?s Teppei Natori to take fifth place in the race, and complete the rookie podium behind Lawson and Tsunoda.

The second Carlin car driven by Christian Hahn finished seventh, with a comfortable margin ahead of solo Fortec Motorsports driver Calan Williams and RP Motorsport?s Javier Gonzalez.

Cameron Das, who previously raced with Williams at Fortec and joined Motopark for the Hungaroring round, claimed the final point on offer by holding off Teo Mart?n?s Aldo Festante.

Besides the lead battle, the fiercest duel in the race was between Pierre-Louis Chovet (RP Motorsport) and Rui Andrade (Drivex School). Lap after lap, Andrade set session-best figures in the speed trap – but the Angolan driver could not find a way past the Frenchman.

Julian Hanses punted Nicolai Kjaergaard and finished a penalised 17th, two places behind the Dane, with spinner Jack Doohan between them.

Euroformula debutant Nobuharu Matsushita started a lap down, then pitted regularly and was a non-classified finisher. He did however get fastest lap by almost a second-and-a-half.

Race results (17 laps)