Fortec Motorsport driver Jack Harvey returned to winning ways at the Hungaroring taking a win and a second place from the Formula BMW Europe weekend.
The 17-year-old finished second in the weekend's first race, having started third in the Racing Steps Foundation liveried car Harvey moved up to second behind his main championship rival Robin Frijns from the start, the Briton having to defend his position from first Daniil Kyvat then Carlos Sainz Jr allowing Frijns to build up a three second lead after only four laps as the he battling Harvey led a train of eleven cars, the gaps between the chasing cars all less than a second.
Rookie Sainz's podium chance came to an end on lap ten when Harvey's Greek teammate George Katsinis got past into third – though Sainz held on to fourth for his eighth rookie class win of the year.
Relieved of the pressure Harvey was able to halve the deficit to Frijns, but was still 1.4 seconds behind by the end of the race.
“It was a pretty good race,” Harvey said. “I had another good start and was able to put pressure on Robin so he had to defend in the first corner, but I couldn't really try on the outside because there was a queue of people behind me. Again Robin was really fast in the opening laps so I couldn't keep up his pace. By the end I managed to reel him in, and the oil [dropped from Timmy Hansen's car in the closing laps] helped a bit but I was just not fast enough.”
Race two was a more straight forward affair, Harvey leading from pole position into the first corner and while he had to defend through the opening corners he was able to pull away as, table turned, his rivals were the ones delayed by a battle for second.
His eventual winning margin just over four seconds as Harvey maintained a 23 point lead at in the championship standings.
“I got a great start in the second race but had to cover my line through the first corner as the guy alongside put his nose up the inside,” Harvey described. “I had to push really hard throughout the entire race. It meant I was able to get a good lead on the rest of the field as they were battling behind me I still needed to concentrate as it’s a tough circuit and I wanted to take win number six!”
Like Formula One the BMW Europe teams now have a four week break before the race weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, the two race around the Belgian track the penultimate round of the championship for the junior formula drivers.
