Photo: Fotospeedy
Francesco Simonazzi took two wins at the Hungaroring, but Brad Benavides left the circuit with his Euroformula points lead having grown over his rival.
It was close at the top in practice, with Benavides setting a 1m35.159s in FP2 to beat Simonazzi’s FP1 benchmark by 0.138 seconds. Levente Revesz was third fastest, 0.22s behind.
The order was shaken up slightly in qualifying, which took place on a wet track and meant drivers used grooved tyres on both runs. Michael Shin claimed a maiden pole, setting a 1m48.302s on his penultimate lap to be fastest by 0.034s over Benavides. Fernando Barrichello was 1.103s off the pace in third, Simonazzi was a further second back in fourth, and Revesz was a huge 8.79s off the pace in fifth.
All six drivers darted to the inside at the start of race one, and it worked best for Benavides who took the lead. Shin then went off at turn one but did not lose further places, while Revesz passed Simonazzi at turn two and then Bergmeister too. He tried passing Barrichello at the inside of turn 12 on lap two and went off, but got the move done there on lap three.
Bergmeister overtook Barrichello at turn one on lap four, with Simonazzi following him through as Barrichello locked up at turn two, then the race settled down with Benavides dominating up front for his fifth win of 2024.
Simonazzi attempted to pass Bergmeister at turn nine on lap eight but there was not enough room, then on lap 10 he locked up at turn two and damaged his front wing on the rear of Bergmeister’s car. That led to him pitting and losing two laps, but he was able to claim one of those back with an on-track move on Benavides.
Shin finished 6.381s behind Benavides in second, with Revesz a further 2.559s behind in third.
Simonazzi dominated race two from reversed-grid pole, winning the 17-lap race by 12.568s. Bergmeister held second place throughout, although Barrichello tried passing him around the outside of turn one on the opening lap but ended up going off.
Barrichello rejoined the track in fourth and drove into the rear of Revesz and Bergmeister at turn three, leading to him then stopping in the run-off for half a minute and then pitting at the end of the lap for new tyres. Revesz retired in the pits on lap three, and Barrichello got lapped by Simonazzi on lap 13.
Benavides and Shin hounded Bergmeister for most of the race, but there no overtaking opportunities.
Simonazzi was even more dominant in the reversed-grid race three, winning by 13.716s over Benavides after starting third.
Revesz tried passing Bergmeister for the lead around the outside of turn one on the opening lap but both went way off, handing first place to Simonazzi, and when they rejoined Revesz broke his front wing on Bermeister’s rear-left tyre. They both finished, albeit 1m25s and a lap down respectively.
Results round-up
Race 1 (17 laps)
1 Brad Benavides Motopark 27m47.062s
2 Michael Shin Motopark +6.381s
3 Levente Revesz Motopark +8.940s
4 Jakob Bergmeister Motopark +19.152s
5 Fernando Barrichello Motopark +19.550s
6 Francesco Simonazzi BVM Racing +1 lap
Pole: Shin, 1m48.302s
Fastest lap: Benavides, 1m37.246s
Race 2 (17 laps)
1 Simonazzi 27m24.959s
2 Bergmeister +12.568s
3 Benavides +13.552s
4 Shin +14.680s
5 Barrichello +1 lap
6 Revesz +4 laps
FL: Simonazzi, 1m35.710s
Race 3 (17 laps)
1 Simonazzi 27m18.297s
2 Benavides +13.716s
3 Barrichello +19.244s
4 Shin +20.550s
5 Revesz +1m25.767s
6 Bergmeister +1 lap
FL: Simonazzi, 1m35.872s
Championship standings
1 Benavides 256 2 Simonazzi 193 3 Bergmeister 158 4 Revesz 145 5 Shin 134 6 Barrichello 117 7 Lorenzo Fluxa 59 8 Gerrard Xie 36 9 Paolo Brajnik 16