Drama for Evans in Hungarian rhapsody
Kiwi teen retains overall GP3 Series lead
After a weekend of fast changing fortunes, Mitch Evans came away from Hungary with his GP3 Series points lead virtually unchanged, in spite of being hit from behind at the start of Sunday’s ‘reverse grid’ race, pitting to change a punctured tyre and then recovering from a spin in the difficult conditions to set fastest lap.
For the third GP3 race weekend in a row, changing wet and dry track conditions dictated the outcome which was as unpredictable as the weather.
Evans arrived in Hungary with an 18pt overall lead but that was reduced to 14pts when his main rival Aaro Vainio got the four bonus points by taking pole position in qualifying on Saturday morning.
In race one on Saturday afternoon Evans finished third, two places ahead of Vainio to pull his overall lead back to 19pts. Then in a mad Hungarian rhapsody on Sunday morning Evans saw his lead cut back to 17pts.
The big winner at the sixth round held at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest was Portuguese driver Antonio Felix da Costa. Having failed to finish either race the previous weekend in Germany, the Red Bull driver re-wrote the record books in Hungary.
He arrived in Budapest languishing in seventh place in the standing but his record haul of 44pts in just two days, leapfrogs him to third. With only four races remaining Evans is on 136pts, Vainio is on 119pts and da Costa has quickly amassed 102pts.
Da Costa completed a unique double victory; winning on Saturday, snatching an extraordinary win on Sunday and getting the bonus points for fastest lap in both races. In reality Evans did the fastest time on the last lap of the Sunday race but the GP3 Series leader was denied the points because he didn’t finish in the top ten.
It was the first time in the three year history of GP3 that a driver has won both the Saturday Feature race and Sunday’s ‘reverse top eight’ race.
The second GP3 race at the Hungarian Grand Prix quickly became a topsy turvy affair. The eventual winner came from behind but the race ran the full 16 laps without a safety car intervention – even though cars were spinning off the fast drying track.
The Portuguese driver had a well-deserved win on Saturday but only managed the double after a perfectly-timed pitstop for slicks on the drying track in Sunday’s crazy race .It was a dream result for Da Costa.
The scene for the unusual outcome on Sunday was set by morning thunderstorms that left the track wet. However, the sun was shining at start-time and most drivers started on wets. Only nine cars towards the rear of the 25 car field took a slick-tyre gamble right from the off.
The early action featured Evans’ MW Arden team, as Matias Laine beat pole-sitting team-mate David Fumanelli away from the line. Evans was clipped by Daniel Abt in the run down to the first corner and spun off with a punctured left-rear tyre.
“Da Costa was pushing over on me down the straight and Abt was right on my left rear. He got too close and his front wing slit my tyre,” said Evans. “I didn’t know until I braked into turn one and the car spun around. It was an instant puncture.”
The next moment Fumanelli spun into the barrier out of second place exiting the second corner, leaving Laine clear of Lotus duo Conor Daly and Aaro Vainio. Kevin Ceccon had been fourth, but Tamas Pal Kiss overtook him on lap two.
Da Costa ran seventh early on, but quickly passed Ceccon and Abt, and was running fifth when he pitted for slicks on the half-distance lap. He was reacting to the faster lap times being set by the drivers who opted to start on slicks.
With no more rain on the weather radars, pitstops came thick and fast. But the race leaders stayed locked-into their wet-tyre strategy. Race leader Laine was struggling to fend off Daly on the fast drying track. Whenever the American got alongside, Laine ran him wide at the next corner.
With three laps to go, Vainio finally passed Daly for second around the outside of the first turn, and looked set to decimate Evans's points lead. The New Zealander’s enforced switch to slicks after his slow return to the pits could have given him an advantage but his recovery was hampered by a spin at the still damp chicane.
“It was just a matter of waiting for the track to dry after my change to slicks. I got fastest lap right at the end – but overall it was a disappointment because we had really good pace in both races.”
As the race entered its closing stages, the slick-shod cars were lapping over 10s a lap faster than the cars on worn wets and da Costa was the first of the slick runners on track. He carved his way past Abt, Daly, Vainio and Laine in quick succession, and pulled away to win by over 11s.
Patric Niederhauser who had gambled on slicks at the start pulled a last-lap pass on Pal Kiss for second with just a couple of corners remaining. Alex Brundle was fourth, ahead of Tio Ellinas - both having started on slicks.
Lewis Williamson stopped for slicks and finished sixth, ahead of the wet-shod cars of Laine and Vainio, the latter initially taking just one point out of Evans's points lead when it could have been so much more.
However, there was a final twist later in the day when the race stewards reviewed all the action. Local hero Tamas Pal Kiss, who finished third on the road, was given a 20 second time penalty because he "crossed the line at the pit exit".
The penalty issued was a drive though, but since the penalty was imposed after the race, a 20 second time penalty was added to the Hungarian's result.
That meant Pal Kiss was classified outside of the top eight and lost the 10 points he scored. His penalty moved Vainio from 8th to 7th which gained the Finn one more championship point.
The penultimate round of the GP3 Series is at Spa Francorchamps during the Belgian Grand Prix meeting on August 31 – September 2. It follows the one month ‘summer break’ for the Grand Prix circus,
30th July 2012
Issued by Murray Taylor on behalf of Mitch Evans Motorsport.
Mobile: 027 294 7930
GP3 Series Points (After 12 of 16 races)
Mitch Evans New Zealand 136
Aaro Vainio Finland 119
Antonio Felix da Costa Portugal 102
Daniel Abt Germany 94
Patric Niederhauser Switzerland 84
Connor Daly United States 83
Matias Laine Finland 70
Tio Ellinas Cyprus 58
Kevin Ceccon Italy 56
Marlon Stockinger Philippines 41