F3 Hungary: Tsolov wins as title leaders flounder

Nikola Tsolov took his third Formula 3 victory of the season, his first in a feature race, as a late safety car denied team-mate Laurens van Hoepen the opportunity to effect a pass after sitting patiently in second throughout.

The ART pair had lined up alongside each other on the front row of the grid and went wheel-to-wheel into Turn 1, veering towards the pit wall as Tsolov overcame his polesitting team-mate.

This move also saw the pair close the door on championship chasing Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident), with fourth-place starter Noel Leon seizing the opportunity to move his Van Amersfoort Racing car into the final podium position.

Despite van Hoepen’s radio messages requesting that ART swap it’s drivers positions so he could better preserve his tyres, the team elected against using team orders. Just as a lunge looked imminent, the safety car was deployed in the final two laps, denying a thrilling finale.

The situation later became more frustrating for van Hoepen when he was disqualified after his car failed scrutineering for not meeting minimum weight requirement.

As is typical at the Hungaroring, overtaking was at a premium, with Christian Mansell the most notable mover as he climbed from eighth on the grid to fourth at the chequered flag – his most notable move coming with a well-rehearsed lunge at Turn 1 on Santiago Ramos (Trident) for fifth on lap three.

Silverstone double-winner Arvid Lindblad (Prema) saw his forgettable weekend come to a premature close when he tangled with Matías Zagazeta on the run to Turn 4 on lap 21, with the championship contender appearing to take a wider line on the straight, leaving the Jenzer driver with nowhere to go.

As a result, Zagazeta retired into an escape road while Lindblad was left beached on a kerb.

However, the stewards decided that Zagazeta was the driver at fault and gave him a five-place grid penalty for the next race.

Despite the lack of action, the Hungarian feature race has had a huge effect on the drivers’ championship standings with Fornaroli and Mansell closing ground on the top three - Gabriele Mini (Prema), Luke Browning (Hitech) and Arvid Lindblad (Prema) – who all failed to scored after starting down the order and struggled to make ground in the Callum Voisin-led (Rodin) DRS train.

Fornaroli’s promoted third place means the top four in the championship are now covered by seven points, with Mansell now only 22 points off the top spot.

Dino Beganovic (Prema) and Oliver Goethe (Campos) are the last of those with a realistic chance now, after finishing ninth and eighth respectively. Goethe is the lower-placed driver in the standings and sits 32 back on the lead with only two weekends remaining.

F3 Hungary - Feature race results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Bonus
1	N. Tsolov ART Grand Prix	25		23	38'54.231		155.341		25
2	L. Van ART Grand Prix	24		23	+0.605 38'54.836	0.605	155.301		18
3	N. León Van Amersfoort Racing	20		23	+1.114 38'55.345	0.509	155.267		15
4	L. Fornaroli Trident	4		23	+1.439 38'55.670	0.325	155.245		12
5	C. Mansell ART Grand Prix	23		23	+1.781 38'56.012	0.342	155.223		10		1
6	S. Ramos Trident	6		23	+2.091 38'56.322	0.310	155.202		8
7	C. Voisin Rodin Motorsport	29		23	+2.497 38'56.728	0.406	155.175		6
8	N. Bedrin PHM AIX Racing	27		23	+2.751 38'56.982	0.254	155.158		4
9	O. Goethe Campos Racing	10		23	+3.304 38'57.535	0.553	155.121		2
10	D. Beganovic Prema Powerteam	1		23	+4.008 38'58.239	0.704	155.075		1
11	M. Boya Campos Racing	12		23	+4.443 38'58.674	0.435	155.046
12	G. Minì Prema Powerteam	2		23	+5.040 38'59.271	0.597	155.006
13	L. Browning Hitech Pulse-Eight	14		23	+5.139 38'59.370	0.099	155.000
14	M. Stenshorne Hitech Pulse-Eight	15		23	+5.786 39'00.017	0.647	154.957
15	T. Inthraphuvasak PHM AIX Racing	26		23	+6.785 39'01.016	0.999	154.891
16	M. Esterson Jenzer Motorsport	18		23	+7.190 39'01.421	0.405	154.864
17	A. Dunne MP Motorsport	9		23	+7.748 39'01.979	0.558	154.827
18	C. Shields Hitech Pulse-Eight	16		23	+8.206 39'02.437	0.458	154.797
19	K. Sztuka MP Motorsport	8		23	+9.211 39'03.442	1.005	154.730
20	S. Montoya Campos Racing	11		23	+9.453 39'03.684	0.242	154.714
21	T. Tramnitz MP Motorsport	7		23	+9.850 39'04.081	0.397	154.688
22	P. Wiśnicki Rodin Motorsport	30		23	+10.377 39'04.608	0.527	154.653
23	J. Dufek PHM AIX Racing	28		23	+11.456 39'05.687	1.079	154.582
24	S. Flörsch Van Amersfoort Racing	21		23	+11.792 39'06.023	0.336	154.560
25	T. Smith Van Amersfoort Racing	22		23	+16.104 39'10.335	4.312	154.277
26	S. Meguetounif Trident	5		23	+38.783 39'33.014	22.679	152.802	1
27	J. Loake Rodin Motorsport	31		22	+1 Lap 39'06.567	1 Lap	147.803	1
dnf	M. Zagazeta Jenzer Motorsport	19		20	+3 Laps 32'41.138	2 Laps	160.767			Accident
dnf	A. Lindblad Prema Powerteam	3		20	+3 Laps 32'41.437	0.299	160.743			Accident
dnf	C. Wurz Jenzer Motorsport	17		1	22 laps			1		Retirement
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