Dennis Hauger Leads the Hungarian Sprint Race to Second Formula 2 Win

Hungary’s sprint race was one that exceeded expectations and was filled with surprises, with MP Sports’ Dennis Hauger taking his second sprint race win after Melbourne, followed by Ayumu Iwasa, who added more points to his name in the battle, and the golden rookie, Ferrari Academy’s Oliver Bearman, with an exceptional drive from the British driver to the Podium.

The race started with Kush Maini leading the grid looking for his first win, but the Campos racer lost three places as the lights went out, with Hauger taking the lead ahead of Iwasa, whereas Ollie Bearman dived in to take third place.

Championship contender Theo Pourchaire made his first move against MP Jehan Daruvala. Lap one excitement ensued as every racer fought before the grid calmed, with Victor Martins moving up two places from ninth to seventh.

Frederik Vesti, the championship leader, had to fight for the points as his lead was at risk from rival Pourchaire, who, with his position, was closing in on the battle. The drivers had to worry about tyre management, knowing the Formula 3 drivers struggled to do so.

Kush Maini took back third place from Bearman in lap three to reclaim a position on the podium with a great late lunge into turn one.

Lap 12 saw an incident between Ralph Boschung, who was caught in a collision with Clement Novalak, who suffered a lock-up, sending him into the Campos of Boschung, taking both the drivers out of the race. Another driver tangled in this incident was DAMS’ Arthur Leclerc, who found himself between the Boschung and Novalak, resulting in him running wide. The Virtual Safety Car was bought out, making the driver slow their car down by almost 50%.

Theo Pourchaire had the best reaction, with the green flag having him almost immediately overtake Bearman down turn 2, which made almost everyone question the legality of his moves, but it was all under the regulation.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Juan Manuel Correa was given a 3-place grid penalty after qualifying for impeding. He had an unfortunate race after he came into the pits due to problems with his steering wheel, which put him a lap down, and was given a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane when he rejoined the race.

The battle between Vesti and Sunday’s polesitter Doohan had a battle of their own, as the Dane was desperate for points, which are vital for his championship. Vesti won the battle, securing ninth place.

The last laps of the race saw Pourchaire take a late lunge on Maini, the man known for his late lunge, taking third place, which puts him right beside Vesti in terms of championship points. This move on the Indian driver left him vulnerable, which Bearman took advantage of as he took fourth place.

It was lap 24 that saw the greatest move of the race, when Prema’s Oliver Bearman made the late lunge on Pourchaire, the man who made the same move more than a lap ago. Ollie took the final podium position, which was a double-win for the team as it put his teammate Vesti back into the championship lead.

“The pace was looking good, and I was really happy to be back on the top step of the podium, and I really enjoyed the race. We’ll hopefully do a good race tomorrow.” said sprint race winner Dennis Hauger.

This sprint race puts Vesti and Pouchaire merely a point apart with 135 and 134 in the points, followed by Iwasa, who collected more points to 120, with Ollie Bearman breaking the tie between himself and Martins as the top rookie, with the former on the board with 94 and the Frenchman with 90. This race also added to the gap between Prema Racing and ART Grand Prix with 229 and 224 points, with DAMS in third with 159 points.

Pos	#	Name	Team	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	KMPH	Best time	Lap
1	1	Dennis HAUGER	MP Motorsport	28	44:43.144	–	–	164.531	1:33.001	26
2	11	Ayumu IWASA	DAMS	28	44:47.374	4.23	4.23	164.272	1:32.585	28
3	8	Oliver BEARMAN	PREMA Racing	28	44:57.340	14.196	9.966	163.665	1:33.941	28
4	5	Theo POURCHAIRE	ART Grand Prix	28	44:59.736	16.592	2.396	163.519	1:34.647	27
5	2	Jehan DARUVALA	MP Motorsport	28	45:03.904	20.76	4.168	163.267	1:34.834	28
6	24	Kush MAINI	Campos Racing	28	45:07.198	24.054	3.294	163.069	1:34.733	19
7	6	Victor MARTINS	ART Grand Prix	28	45:07.532	24.388	0.334	163.049	1:34.728	5
8	10	Isack HADJAR	Hitech Pulse-Eight	28	45:07.804	24.66	0.272	163.032	1:34.741	5
9	7	Frederik VESTI	PREMA Racing	28	45:08.460	25.316	0.656	162.993	1:34.731	21
10	14	Jack DOOHAN	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	28	45:08.858	25.714	0.398	162.969	1:34.487	22
11	4	Enzo FITTIPALDI	Rodin Carlin	28	45:09.204	26.06	0.346	162.948	1:34.841	22
12	3	Zane MALONEY	Rodin Carlin	28	45:09.736	26.592	0.532	162.916	1:34.816	22
13	22	Richard VERSCHOOR	Van Amersfoort Racing	28	45:09.984	26.84	0.248	162.901	1:34.661	22
14	9	Jak CRAWFORD	Hitech Pulse Eight	28	45:10.266	27.122	0.282	162.884	1:34.826	22
15	12	Arthur LECLERC	DAMS	28	45:10.630	27.486	0.364	162.862	1:34.224	14
16	20	Roman STANEK	Trident	28	45:11.179	28.035	0.549	162.829	1:34.679	22
17	16	Roy NISSANY	PHM Racing by Charouz	28	45:16.130	32.986	4.951	162.533	1:32.916	20
18	17	Brad BENEVIDES	PHM Racing by Charouz	28	45:20.533	37.389	4.403	162.269	1:34.845	17
19	15	Amaury CORDEEL	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	28	45:21.157	38.013	0.624	162.232	1:34.887	7
20	23	Juan Manuel CORREA	Van Amersfoort Racing	27	46:05.187	1 LAP	1 LAP	153.945	1:33.668	22
RET	25	Ralph BOSCHUNG	Campos Racing	DNF
RET	21	Clement NOVALAK	Trident	DNF