Ceccon continues with Sunday Luck

Kevin Ceccon has an identical weekend to what he had in Silverstone at the Hungaroring. Coming seventh in the first race, he picked up his second GP3 win by snatching first from Antonio Fuoco

off the start. Esteban Ocon, who was chasing him down for the lead, robbed him of the bonus fastest lap points on the penultimate lap. Completing the podium was Ocon in second and Jimmy Eriksson, who held off pressure from his teammate Matthew Parry for most of the race to take the bottom step.

High winds were circulating the circuit this morning, cooling off the track from the rain that fell last night. The race was cut short of a lap, reducing from seventeen laps to sixteen, due to someone who stalled as the cars got ready to race. A second formation lap was completed and everyone managed to return to the start grid with no further problems. Ceccon took the lead from the start line, jumping Fuoco and holding back his attacks going into turn one. But the biggest mover was Bernstorff who managed to get a blinding start, climbing the grid from fifth to pressure Fuoco for second place. But the impressive progress from the Brit was brought to a crashing halt as Fuoco tried to make the position back, making a mistake and getting too close. He went over the front right of Bernstorff’s Arden, getting himself air born and hurling Bernstorff over the curbs. Both cars retired from the race, with Fuoco taking a heavy hit to the barriers. Both drivers walked away fine from the incident as the safety car was released to clear up the two stricken cars. Arthur Janosz also had contact with Aleksander Bosak on the first laps, sending the Polish driver into the barriers and also retiring from the race. The incident was investigated but no conclusion was made during the race.

On the restart, Ceccon was ready to storm away from the pack, but Esteban Ocon was close on his tail, looking for the win that he hadn’t managed to grab from Luca Ghiotto yesterday. Ocon managed to promote himself to second place after all of the first place incidents, and had Eriksson chasing him down to complete the provisional podium. Matthew Parry was on the prowl again, getting passed Ghiotto on the restart and moving up to forth. He managed to catch up to his teammate and beginning fighting for the bottom step of the podium, but couldn’t find a chance to get passed. More contact happened round turn one as Mathéo Tuscher tried to squeeze passed Seb Morris on the restart but the Swiss driver was pushed out wide after contact, loosing the end plate of his front wing. The damage wasn’t terminal but the incident was put under investigation and was investigated after the race.

The top three passed around fastest lap after fastest lap, but Ceccon was still able to defend his position stably from Ocon. Ocon never managed to get close enough to pressurise Ceccon, even though he took the fastest lap from the race, gaining the two bonus points. Audacious driving was seen up and down the grid as Mitchell Gilbert made a bold move down the pit straight, taking ninth, and Tuscher went around the outside of turn five to steal tenth. Tuscher seemed to be on the charge as he set off after his teammate, Ralf Boschung, for the final point of the race.

The last few laps were tight between teammates. Ceccon had stormed off with the lead, with no pressure from Ocon, but the real fight was for third and for eighth. Parry had, again, showed fantastic pace during the race and was clearly able to go at a quicker pace than his teammate, Eriksson, ahead. But the Hungaroring is well known as a ‘Monaco without barriers’ and made the overtake impossible before the chequered flag. The battle had been going on since the restart after the safety car, but unfortunately for Parry, the podium was not his to take. Tuscher was also after eighth and the last championship point from his teammate Boschung. But like Parry, Tuscher could not add to his championship campaign.

Although Ghiotto finished fifth, he still enters the summer break leading the GP3 title. Marvin Kirchhöfer and Ocon are now matched for points on 96 points, now 23 points behind the championship leader. The team’s championship’s top three remains the same as we head into the summer break. GP3 will be back in Belgium for the fifth round of the series on the 21st of August. Join us then where we will see if Ghiotto’s championship lead will continue to grow or if Esteban Ocon or Kirchhöfer can do anything to close the gap.

#gp3 #feeder #formula