Marcus Armstrong was twice forced to retire at the Hungaroring following contact with Daniel Ticktum, but when the New Zealander was able to avoid the Briton, he managed to achieve his best result so far of his FIA European Formula 3 Championship career with second place in race two.
The Prema Theodore Racing driver, also part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, suffered a puncture after Ticktum hit his left rear tyre in race one that saw him ultimately retire from the race, which will be particularly galling as the Motopark driver would go on to take the victory.
“I had a great start but another car drove into my left rear tyre and gave me a puncture,” said Armstrong. “That was it for race 1.”
Race two in Hungary was a much more straightforward affair as he followed home Enaam Ahmed for second place, with Armstrong admitting he was not worried at all about the chasing pack despite Alex Palou finishing less than two seconds behind him.
“My start in race 2 was good and I was right behind Enaam at the beginning,” said Armstrong. “I was a bit surprised myself that I was so fast at this stage, but as soon as I got close it was impossible to get close enough to overtake.
“For the same reason, I wasn’t too worried about the car I had behind, so I just cruised to second place.”
Unfortunately for Armstrong, the third race of the weekend was over before it really begun thanks to contact again with Ticktum on the opening lap, the third time in just six races the two have clashed.
