Chao Collet’s first win of his career ended Saturday’s Formula 3 race at the Hungaroring. Along with him, Franco Colapinto and Colette’s MP Motorsport teammate Kush Maini climbed to the podium.
The weatherman’s prediction came true – light rain fell across the track, so everyone rode out on wet tires and the start of the warm-up lap was given behind the safety car, which led the pack for two laps.
The start of the race was given in motion. Oliver Goethe made a mistake coming out of the last corner, which Franco Colapinto took advantage of and overtook the pole holder in the first corner. Goethe was followed by Isaac Hadjar and Chao Collet.
David Vidales crashed the car, causing the safety car to return to the track. The Campos racer lost his car on a wet curb exiting Turn 3 – he turned and was thrown into the opposite wall.
The race resumed on the fourth lap. Colapinto held onto the lead while Collet overtook Hajjar for second. Goethe lost three more positions and missed Jack Crawford, Kusch Maini and Victor Marten. At that point the rain had stopped, but the track remained too wet for the switch to slicks.
Collet began to actively put pressure on Colapinto, but Franco managed to repel the opponent’s attacks every time. At the end of the pack, Brad Benavidez crashed into Ido Cohen in the first corner – the safety car left the track again. Both riders retired.
The restart was given in the eighth round. Colapinto held onto the lead, while Hajjar forced Collet to fight for second. The rivals switched positions several times, but Chao remained second. Alexander Smolyar lost positions after the incident with Gregoire Sosi and dropped to 18th place. The stewards recognized this as a racing incident. In the next round, Smolyar lost two more places.
In the ninth round a fierce battle broke out between Crawford, Martin and Leclerc. Jack was able to overtake the championship leader and Victor beat Leclerc’s attack hard – there was even contact between the cars.
On lap ten, Collet caught up with Colapinto to take the lead. Once on an empty track, Chao quickly brought the lead to two and a half seconds, showing the best lap. Leclerc nevertheless passed Martin in the battle for sixth place and headed into the battle for Crawford.
On lap 16, Hajjar made a mistake and went off the track in the second corner. The mistake cost Isaac a lot of money – he dropped from third to sixth, missing Maini, Crawford and Leclerc.
On the last lap, Leclerc Crawford attacked unsuccessfully and crashed into an opponent. Jack turned, he rolled back to twentieth place. Arthur continued, but already in the next corner Leclerc himself was pushed from behind by Victor Martin! Leclerc turned and for him the race was over.
Chao Collet confidently took the race to victory, nearly nine seconds ahead of Colapinto at the finish. Kush Maini finished third and took the podium for the first time in his career. Isaac Hadjar defeated Marten in the battle for leadership in the individual competition thanks to fourth place. Alexander Smolyar finished fifteenth.
Results are being prepared
Source: F1 News
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
