#pourchaire

Théo Pourchaire F2 champ headers + lockscreen.

POURCHAIRE SHOWS HIS CLASS

Sauber Junior Driver Theo Pourchaire was in a class of his own as he saw off the challenge from the PREMA cars to win the F3 Feature Race at the Hungaroring.

A dramatic start to the race saw Logan Sargeant go for it into turn one and lose the back of his car on the damp surface, half spinning into the side of pole sitter Alex Smolyar, damaging his PREMA and eliminating the ART of Smolyar.

Behind them, Calan Williams was tipped into a spin by Bent Viscaal, his Jenzer spinning across the track and collecting Frederik Vesti and Olli Caldwell, eliminating Williams and Vesti, as Caldwell limped back to the pit lane.

Consequently the Safety Car came out but racing promptly resumed on lap three with Pourchaire leading the field.

It wasn’t long until there was more drama, with Liam Lawson’s Hitech car dumping oil out of the back of it down the pit straight and all the way through to turn two. This caught out Sebastian Fernandez, Bent Viscaal and Max Fewtrell, who all ran wide on the slippery oil with Fewtrell losing a position to Richard Verschoor in the process.

Lawson’s car dramatically caught fire on the run to turn two and he retired there, initially bringing out the Safety Car, and then the red flags as the circuit needed repairing.

Lirim Zendeli and Jack Doohan retired under the red flags after contact with each other, but after a Safety Car restart racing resumed on lap nine and the stewards were immediately busy.

Olli Caldwell, Jake Hughes, Roman Stanek, Matteo Nannini and Enzo Fittipaldi all being sent to the pit lane for penalties for Safety Car infringements.

Lap 11 nearly saw Sebastian Fernandez bin it into the wall on the pit straight as his car got lairy coming out of the final corner. He then started to struggle as the track dried out, losing out to both MP Motorsport cars, including a ballsy move from Richard Verschoor into turn one.

Max Fewtrell also started to fall backwards, dropping back from seventh to eleventh complaining about a steering issue with his car. No such problems for Pourchaire who extended his lead lap by lap over Oscar Piastri who couldn’t touch the Frenchman, eventually ending with a winning margin of just over 11 seconds at the flag.

Bent Viscaal stole P4 from Richard Verschoor on the final lap with a great move around the outside of turn two which turn to the inside line through turn three, while further back Clement Novalak gained 17 positions to finish in P9 for Carlin.

RACE RESULT

POURCHAIRE PIASTRI SARGEANT

VISCAAL VERSCHOOR FERNANDEZ PERONI HAUGER NOVALAK BECKMANN

FEWTRELL DUNNER MALVESTITI AHMED FRAGA SCHUMACHER DAS FLOERSCH FITTIPALDI DELEDDA CALDWELL NANNINI STANEK HUGHES

ZENDELI - DNF LAWSON - DNF DOOHAN - DNF SMOLYAR - DNF VESTI - DNF WILLIAMS - DNF

POURCHAIRE HANDED VICTORY

Sauber Junior Theo Pourchaire followed the Safety Car to victory in the F3 Sprint Race, after race-ending contact between Liam Lawson and Jake Hughes took both drivers out of the race.

Enzo Fittipaldi stalled on the grid but was able to get going and retake his position on the formation lap, whilst Matteo Nannini coasted back to the pits and got going again with only around 15 laps to go.

Once the race started it was Pourchaire who stormed into the lead, jumping poleman Hughes, and fending off his challenge into turn 3. The young Frenchman led all the way until DRS became too powerful on lap 4. Lawson coming from third to take the lead at turn 4, however it was only brief with Hughes retaking the lead just a lap later.

Thed rama continue on lap 6 with Clement Novalak getting airbourne in the Carlin on the exit of turn 6, trying an ambitious move around the outside saw him get on the kerbs too much and fly off through the gravel, he was able to continue after a quick trip to the pits for the mechanics to inspect the damage. Olli Caldwell then started to go backwards in the Trident, losing out to David Beckmann and Richard Verschoor on consecutive laps. His team mate Lirim Zendeli got aggressive on the exit of turn four, forcing Sebastian Fernandez off the road and through the gravel.

Lap 10 saw Zendeli get a taste of his own medicine, the PREMA of Frederik Vesti forcing the German off the road at exactly the same spot. A lap later saw Lawson make a successful lunge for the lead, just as the Safety Car came out as Campos had a nightmare lap. Sophia Floersch was trying to pass Alex Smolyar on the exit of turn three, in a gap that was always going to be closed off, meaning Floersch spun off into the wall, bringing out the Safety Car. Her team mate Alex Peroni then went off through the gravel through turn eight whilst the other Campos of Alessio Deledda ended up with a damaged front wing after contact that wasn’t shown on the feed.

Racing resumed on lap 17 with Jake Hughes immediately starting to challenge Lawson for the lead again, as Cameron Das and Lukas Dunner made contact behind squabbling over the minor positions. The most dramatic moment of the race came on lap 21, Hughes trying to pass Lawson around the outside of turn four. Lawson got on the kerb slightly too much and understeer into the HWA of Hughes, taking both out of the race, just as Pourchaire dived through and Richard Verschoor had to take major avoiding action to dodge Hughes’ ailing car.

Pourchaire followed the Safety Car home to take his first ever win in F3, ahead of Logan Sargeant and David Beckmann who joined him on the podium.

RACE RESULT:

POURCHAIRE SARGEANT BECKMANN

VERSCHOOR PIASTRI CALDWELL FEWTRELL VESTI FERNANDEZ ZENDELI

PERONI HAUGER FITTIPALDI FRAGA AHMED VISCAAL SCHUMACHER STANEK DUNNER DOOHAN SMOLYAR DELEDDA MALVESTITI WILLIAMS NOVALAK