Callum Ilott, Uni-Virtuosi, gained a substantial lead from the race start to the end of the first lap as he flew down the pit lane three-seconds faster than Luca Ghiotto, Hitech, in second. However Dan Tickman, Dams, suffered power unit issues early on in the race which resulted in the British driver to retire shortly after. The first retirement of the sprint race.
Yuki Tsunoda, Carlin, was given the black and orange flag on lap eight as he had mechanical issues. However, it wasn’t positively received by the Japanese driver. After he returned to the track, after his visit in the pit lane, he ended up around one minute and 25 seconds behind the race leader.
Despite pit stops not being mandatory in the F2 sprint race, eight drivers opted to pit for fresh tyres. However, the high tyre degradation which littered the track with marbles, forced some of the drivers to change for the fresher tyres.
Yesterday’s race winner, Robert Shwartzman, Prema, struggled to get his tyres up to temperature after he swapped his medium tyres for the soft compound as he ran wide at turn three.
Ghiotto and Giuliano Alesi, BWT HWA Racelab, were the only drivers not to pit which wasn’t mandatory in the F2 sprint race. While the remaining 20 drivers opted to change for fresher tyres.
Mike Schumacher, Prema, had to defend from Louis Deletraz, Charon, who looked to overtake the German driver at turn 14. However, the Prema driver snuffed out the possibilty of losing a position and, with the help of DRS, climbed into third as he overtook Alesi.
It was a final-lap battle to remember for Ilott as he chased down Ghiotto for the race lead. However, the Hitech driver was able to keep hold of the lead to win the Hungarian F2 sprint race with just under a second to spare which separated the two drivers.
Podium:
- Luca Ghiotto (Hitech)
- Callum Ilott (Uni-Virtuosi)
- Mike Schumacher (Prema)
