Nannini wins FIA F3 Race 2 in Hungary, Hauger extends Championship lead

Matteo Nannini won the second race of the weekend as the FIA Formula 3 Championship takes on the Hungaroring for the fourth round of the season.

Lorenzo Colombo won Race 1 on track to take his first points, podium and win earlier in the day, but received a penalty post-race for falling too far behind the safety car, dropping him to seventh. Ayumu Iwasa inherited the win for Hitech GP, and started Race 2 from 12th place.

Amaury Cordeel and Victor Martins stalled from the start but everyone behind was able to avoid the Campos Racing and MP Motorsport cars, while pole-sitter Enzo Fittipaldi held off Nannini on the first lap.

Olli Caldwell was forced to pit early in the race after contact at Turn 1, allowing Championship leader Dennis Hauger to re-extend the gap PREMA Racing team-mate Caldwell closed in the morning.

Nannini is benefitting from a dual campaign with HWA Racelab in FIA F3 and Campos in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, and led by two seconds after a third of race distance.

Hauger challenged Trident‘s David Schumacher for sixth on Lap 14, but thought better of it, having taken a 39-point lead into the race.

ART Grand Prix‘ Race 1 retiree Frederik Vesti had made up 11 positions to 17th by Lap 15, while MP’s Caio Collet had jumped seven places into 13th.

Schumacher pounced on Trident team-mate Jack Doohan at Turn 2 as he did earlier in the day, to take fifth place, but Hauger couldn’t take advantage of the Australian going off-line.

The PREMA man began to be held up by Doohan in the closing stages, with a queue forming behind him.

He relieved the pressure on himself by swooping around the outside of Turn 1 on Lap 18 to find some clear air, and went about chasing down Schumacher.

Meanwhile, Doohan slipped back on rapidly-failing tyres, falling as far as 13th by the end of Lap 20.

Hauger did get past Schumacher with what became his signature move, dummying to the inside of Turn 1, then moving around the outside and finishing it off at Turn 2.

He couldn’t find a way past Alex Smolyar and Roman Stanek, though, the latter taking his first podium in FIA F3.

Having taken the lead from Fittipaldi early on, Matteo Nannini held on with a comfortable gap despite track limits warnings, taking his first win to become the ninth winner in the first 11 races of the season.

Stanek took third place ahead of Smolyar, who kept a hard-charging Hauger behind, the Championship leader pushing as if he didn’t have a title to keep one eye on.

With Vesti, Doohan, Caldwell, Martins and Smolyar all missing out on points, Hauger may now feel he is closing in on the title after a stellar opening pair of races in Hungary.

Arthur Leclerc will start Sunday’s Race 3 from pole, ahead of Hauger and Doohan. The other Tridents of Schumacher and Clement Novalak will line up fourth and fifth.

2021 Hungaroring Race 2 Results: