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F3 Hungary: Bedrin leads AIX 1-2 as title battle tightens

Nikita Bedrin became the 10th different race winner of the Formula 3 season with his victory in the sprint race at the Hungaroring.

After starting in second, the Russian made his move on lap one, running around the outside of Prema driver Dino Beganovic at Turn 2 before completing the pass at Turn 3.

Although championship contending Beganovic put pressure on, an error on lap 10 of 18 forced both of the leaders wide and allowed Bedrin's AIX team-mate Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak to steal past into second, making him the first Thai driver to stand on the F3 podium as he picked up his first points of the season.

It was also the first podium and race win for the rebranded AIX Racing outfit.

The race got off to a delayed start with an extra formation lap required after Joseph Loake (Rodin) was unable to shuffle into his grid slot after initially lining up on the wrong side of the grid.

When the lights went out and Bedrin made his move at the front, things were initially relatively well-mannered throughout the field. This lasted for only half a lap, however, as contact between Mari Boya (Campos) and Matías Zagazeta (Jenzer) at the exit of the Turn 6-7 chicane caused the latter to retire with suspension damage.

In the brief virtual safety car period that followed, there was further drama as Nikola Tsolov (ART) made contact with the rear of Santiago Ramos' Trident machine, with the two drivers both pitting with damage. For his trouble, Tsolov was also handed a 10-second penalty.

Upon the restart, the race settled into a familiar DRS affair, with the top 20 drivers all in a single train come the chequered flag.

Beganovic did well to hold when clouting the kerb at Turn 2 on lap 10 while lunging on Bedrin for the lead, the attempted pass causing both drivers to run wide with the former coming close to spinning out of contention.

Dino Beganovic, Prema Racing (Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images)

Beganovic was, however, the highest-placed championship contender in third and is now 31 points off the lead, with his Prema team-mates Gabriele Mini and Arvid Lindblad both failing to score in 14th and 15th respectively.

Luke Browning recovered from having his fastest qualifying time deleted due to causing a red flag in the Friday session to score three points in eighth, something that lifts him to second in the drivers' standings, with six points covering the top three.

Fourth place overall is Leonardo Fornaroli, who will start from third on Sunday with Mini the best-placed of his rivals in 13th. Pulling back four points on leader Mini with a seventh-place finish, the Italian will be hopeful of clawing back significant ground in the feature race.

Race result:

   
1
 - 
4
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval km/h Pits Points Retirement Bonus
1
N. Bedrin PHM AIX Racing
27 18

-

           
2
T. Inthraphuvasak PHM AIX Racing
26 18

+1.500

1.5

1.500          
3
D. Beganovic Prema Powerteam
1 18

+2.100

2.1

0.600          
4
T. Tramnitz MP Motorsport
7 18

+2.600

2.6

0.500          
5
C. Mansell ART Grand Prix
23 18

+3.400

3.4

0.800          
6
C. Voisin Rodin Motorsport
29 18

+3.900

3.9

0.500          
7
L. Fornaroli Trident
4 18

+4.300

4.3

0.400          
8
L. Browning Hitech Pulse-Eight
14 18

+4.900

4.9

0.600          
9
L. Van ART Grand Prix
24 18

+5.400

5.4

0.500          
10
S. Meguetounif Trident
5 18

+5.800

5.8

0.400          
11
O. Goethe Campos Racing
10 18

+6.500

6.5

0.700          
12
N. León Van Amersfoort Racing
20 18

+7.100

7.1

0.600          
13
M. Stenshorne Hitech Pulse-Eight
15 18

+8.100

8.1

1.000          
14
G. Minì Prema Powerteam
2 18

+8.900

8.9

0.800          
15
A. Lindblad Prema Powerteam
3 18

+9.300

9.3

0.400          
16
M. Esterson Jenzer Motorsport
18 18

+11.200

11.2

1.900          
17
C. Wurz Jenzer Motorsport
17 18

+11.800

11.8

0.600          
18
M. Boya Campos Racing
12 18

+12.400

12.4

0.600          
19 Colombia S. Montoya Campos Racing 11 18

+12.800

12.8

0.400          
20
A. Dunne MP Motorsport
9 18

+13.400

13.4

0.600          
21
C. Shields Hitech Pulse-Eight
16 18

+13.800

13.8

0.400          
22
J. Dufek PHM AIX Racing
28 18

+17.700

17.7

3.900          
23 Germany S. Flörsch Van Amersfoort Racing 21 18

+18.100

18.1

0.400          
24
P. Wiśnicki Rodin Motorsport
30 18

+19.000

19.0

0.900          
25
T. Smith Van Amersfoort Racing
22 18

+19.500

19.5

0.500          
26
J. Loake Rodin Motorsport
31 18

+32.800

32.8

13.300   1      
27
K. Sztuka MP Motorsport
8 18

+59.600

59.6

26.800   1      
28
S. Ramos Trident
6 18

+1'00.600

1'00.6

1.000   1      
29
N. Tsolov ART Grand Prix
25 18

+1'10.200

1'10.2

9.600   1      
dnf
M. Zagazeta Jenzer Motorsport
19 17

 

        Retirement  
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