O’Sullivan takes fourth win of season in shortened Hungarian F3 feature race

Formula 3

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Zak O’Sullivan dominated the Formula 3 feature race in Hungary from start to finish to claim his fourth victory of the season.

The Williams junior crossed the line 2.8 seconds ahead of Dino Beganovic in a Prema one-two with Franco Colapinto joining them on the podium.

While O’Sullivan has now won more races than any F3 driver this season, he remains 43 points behind championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto, who laboured in the midfield for seventh place in today’s race.

O’Sullivan had taken pole position in emphatic fashion, he and Beganovic locking out the front row for Prema. The race was shortened from 24 laps to 19, the same as yesterday’s sprint race, due to concerns over tyre performance after drivers encountered heavy degradation on Saturday.

The 30-car F3 field maintained good order at the start as O’Sullivan maintained the lead with a quick reaction off the line. The drivers behind him largely kept position, and despite much wheel-to-wheel action, by lap two the highest overtake was Pepe Marti on Nikola Tsolov for 10th.

The top five drivers then broke away from the pack so that by lap six Paul Aron trailed fifth-placed Oliver Goethe by over two seconds. On the same lap Bortoleto overtook Jonny Edgar for seventh behind them.

O’Sullivan gradually extended his advantage and by lap seven he held a 2.6s lead over his team mate. A new name reached the podium places on lap nine as Colapinto performed a late-braking move at turn one and overtook Leonardo Fornaroli on the inside for third. The Trident driver soon dropped back again, Goethe overtaking Fornaroli for fourth at turn two on lap 10.

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Meanwhile O’Sullivan continued to steadily draw clear, the Williams junior’s lead over Beganovic reaching 4.1s by lap 13. Colapinto’s hopes of further progress were slim as he lay a further 7.5s behind the second Prema.

The main wheel-to-wheel action came in the lower point positions where by lap 16, Marti had stormed up to sixth after starting 13th with a series of excellent passes.

Despite fears over the tyre performance, no drivers encountered any notable problems towards the end of the race, as the asphalt rose from 27C to 34C by the time the chequered flag dropped.

But the action up front remained very quiet. O’Sullivan maintained a relatively comfortable advantage in the closing stages to cross the line for another victory. “Nice one guys, the pace was really good,” he said afterwards paying tribute to a great team performance.

Beganovic and Colapinto joined him on the podium, with Goethe finishing fourth. Aron, Marti, Bortoleto, Fornaroli, Edgar and Mari Boya completing the points-paying positions.

With four races remaining, Bortoleto remains in charge of the championship picture on 144 points. O’Sullivan has moved up five positions to second and is 43 points behind the Trident driver. Marti is now third, just one point behind the Williams junior.

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Formula 3 Hungary race two results

PositionCarDriverTeam
13Zak O’SullivanPrema
22Dino BeganovicPrema
310Franco ColapintoMP
46Oliver GoetheTrident
51Paul AronPrema
623Pepe MartíCampos
75Gabriel BortoletoTrident
812Jonny EdgarMP
94Leonardo FornaroliTrident
1011Mari BoyaMP
1124Christian MansellCampos
1216Luke BrowningHitech
1325Hugh BarterCampos
1427Maxwell EstersonJenzer
158Gregoire SaucyART
1615Caio ColletMP
1718Rafael VillagomezVan Amersfoort
1829Sophia FloerschPHM Racing by Charouz
1917Caio ColletVan Amersfoort
2030Roberto FariaPHM Racing by Charouz
2121Max EstersonRodin Carlin
2222Ido CohenRodin Carlin
2326Nikita BedrinJenzer
2414Sebastian MontoyaHitech
259Nikola TsolovART
2628Alejandro GarcíaJenzer
2720Oliver GrayRodin Carlin
2831Woohyun ShinPHM Racing by Charouz
2919Tom SmithVan Amersfoort
DNF7Kaylen FrederickART

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Ed Hardy
In 2019, Ed started working on Formula 1 writing articles during race weekends. Alongside that, he also built up experience in football working on...

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