From GP2 Series
Nico Hülkenberg repeated his dominant form from the Nurburgring by easily claiming his third win in a row yesterday at the Hungaroring 15 seconds ahead of Lucas di Grassi and 16 ahead of Javier Villa, stretching out his lead in the championship.
With the twisting, undulating nature of the circuit making overtaking as difficult as ever it was clear that pitstop strategies were going to be all important, and so it proved: Villa was setting fast laps until he was the first of the front men to make a stop on lap ten, forcing the German to come in on the next lap.
He emerged ahead and, with di Grassi coming in one lap later ahead of his rivals, it looked like the race was run. But that lead was only to last for two corners, as Hülkenberg made a brave move around the outside at turn two and achieved the impossible by overtaking di Grassi for the effective lead of the race.
As the drivers ahead of them eventually pulled into the pits the German pulled away from his rivals, none of whom could stay within sight. Title rivals Romain Grosjean and Vitaly Petrov both finished out of the points, with the Frenchman slicing up to tenth from last on the grid but the Russian retiring midway through the race with a suspected misfiring engine.
On Sunday, Giedo van der Garde soaked up race long pressure from Luca Filippi to claim his first win of the season on race two, showing a steely determination to hold on for the victory by half a second from the Italian and Lucas di Grassi.
The victory was set up at the start when the Dutchman stormed off the line when the lights went out to slice his way past poleman Davide Rigon and into the lead, with Filippi slotting in behind him into turn one.
Unfortunately for Rigon his getaway was slow and Pastor Maldonado was all over him, with the pair touching at turn nine: Rigon was out on the spot, with his rival eventually returning to the track at the back of the field.
Javier Villa avoided the accident to slot into third position but title challengers di Grassi and Romain Grosjean, just behind, finally passed him. He finishes fifth.
Nico Hülkenberg finished seventh. He maintains a strong lead in the championship with 57 points, while Grosjean closes the gap slightly by moving up to 45 points ahead teammate Vitaly Petrov, who capped a disappointing weekend by spinning out of contention to remain on 41 points, now just one ahead of di Grassi after his two podium haul.
Race 1 :
1.Nico Hulkenberg, 2.Luca Di Grassi, 3.Javier Villa, 4.Pastor Maldonado, 5.Davide Valsecchi, 6.Luca Filippi, 7.Giedo Van der Garde, 8.Davide Rigon, 9.Alvaro Parente, 10.Romain Grosjean... 20.Vitaly Petrov (OUT), etc.
Race 2 :
1.Giedo Van der Garde, 2.Luca Filippi, 3.Lucas Di Grassi, 4.Romain Grosjean, 5.Javier Villa, 6.Alvaro Parente, 7.Nico Hulkenberg, 8.Kamui Kobayashi, 9.Davide Valsecchi, 10.Karun Chandhok... 12.Vitaly Petrov... 24.Pastor Maldonado (OUT), 25.Davide Rigon (OUT), etc.
Nico Hülkenberg repeated his dominant form from the Nurburgring by easily claiming his third win in a row yesterday at the Hungaroring 15 seconds ahead of Lucas di Grassi and 16 ahead of Javier Villa, stretching out his lead in the championship.
With the twisting, undulating nature of the circuit making overtaking as difficult as ever it was clear that pitstop strategies were going to be all important, and so it proved: Villa was setting fast laps until he was the first of the front men to make a stop on lap ten, forcing the German to come in on the next lap.
He emerged ahead and, with di Grassi coming in one lap later ahead of his rivals, it looked like the race was run. But that lead was only to last for two corners, as Hülkenberg made a brave move around the outside at turn two and achieved the impossible by overtaking di Grassi for the effective lead of the race.
As the drivers ahead of them eventually pulled into the pits the German pulled away from his rivals, none of whom could stay within sight. Title rivals Romain Grosjean and Vitaly Petrov both finished out of the points, with the Frenchman slicing up to tenth from last on the grid but the Russian retiring midway through the race with a suspected misfiring engine.
On Sunday, Giedo van der Garde soaked up race long pressure from Luca Filippi to claim his first win of the season on race two, showing a steely determination to hold on for the victory by half a second from the Italian and Lucas di Grassi.
The victory was set up at the start when the Dutchman stormed off the line when the lights went out to slice his way past poleman Davide Rigon and into the lead, with Filippi slotting in behind him into turn one.
Unfortunately for Rigon his getaway was slow and Pastor Maldonado was all over him, with the pair touching at turn nine: Rigon was out on the spot, with his rival eventually returning to the track at the back of the field.
Javier Villa avoided the accident to slot into third position but title challengers di Grassi and Romain Grosjean, just behind, finally passed him. He finishes fifth.
Nico Hülkenberg finished seventh. He maintains a strong lead in the championship with 57 points, while Grosjean closes the gap slightly by moving up to 45 points ahead teammate Vitaly Petrov, who capped a disappointing weekend by spinning out of contention to remain on 41 points, now just one ahead of di Grassi after his two podium haul.
Race 1 :
1.Nico Hulkenberg, 2.Luca Di Grassi, 3.Javier Villa, 4.Pastor Maldonado, 5.Davide Valsecchi, 6.Luca Filippi, 7.Giedo Van der Garde, 8.Davide Rigon, 9.Alvaro Parente, 10.Romain Grosjean... 20.Vitaly Petrov (OUT), etc.
Race 2 :
1.Giedo Van der Garde, 2.Luca Filippi, 3.Lucas Di Grassi, 4.Romain Grosjean, 5.Javier Villa, 6.Alvaro Parente, 7.Nico Hulkenberg, 8.Kamui Kobayashi, 9.Davide Valsecchi, 10.Karun Chandhok... 12.Vitaly Petrov... 24.Pastor Maldonado (OUT), 25.Davide Rigon (OUT), etc.