The French driver’s excellent start put him in contention early on before later overtaking Kanato Le for the lead. He went on to win the race, while the ART Grand Prix rookie took his maiden podium in second, as Ernesto Rivera made it two Campos cars on the rostrum in P3.
AS IT HAPPENED
It was a great start from fourth place for Gerrard Xie, who took the lead before getting up to Turn 1. Le settled into second ahead of Nael with Ernesto Rivera in fourth. But the Safety Car was called upon following a collision at the front of the field. Jin Nakamura hit the rear of Xie heading into Turn 2 before going into the side of Maciej Gladysz.
Nakamura and Gladysz were out of the race, while Xie continued on to the pitlane with a right rear puncture, before coming back out the at the back of the field. Racing resumed on Lap 4 and Le led Nael away with Rivera in third ahead of Mattia Colnaghi, with Brando Badoer in fifth.
In the battle for sixth, after multiple laps of pressure, Ugo Ugochukwu made his way past Nicola Lacorte with the help of DRS into Turn 1. On Lap 8, Ugochukwu was up to fifth with another move at the opening corner, this time on Brando Badoer.
There was a change for the lead on the next lap with Nael, having been within DRS range for several laps, making an impressive late move on Le at Turn 1. On to Lap 11 and Le had managed to stay within DRS range of Nael, while Rivera had closed in on the top two.
It was bad news for Ugochukwu however, as he was given a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage on the opening lap. At the same time, his pace was starting to fall off with Badoer right on his rear with DRS. Lap 14 of 19 and Le had managed to stay within DRS range of Nael, while Rivera dropped back, leaving the top two to fight for the lead.
For Ugochukwu he was now two seconds behind Colnaghi, and Badoer dived to the inside of the Campos at Turn 1 to retake P5. Lacorte tried to follow him through but with the gap closing, the DAMS driver and Ugochukwu made slight contact, this allowed Taponen to make a move past the Italian for seventh.
The American driver was starting to fall through the field with Taponen now demoting him to P7 on Lap 17 at Turn 2, while Lacorte made his way past later in the lap. Back at the front, Le was coming under pressure from Rivera for P2, but Nael was in a world of his own, winning by 2.7s to earn his second victory of the season.
Le held off Rivera to take his first F3 podium, while Colnaghi finished fourth ahead of Badoer and Taponen with Lacorte in seventh. James Wharton made it up eighth for PREMA Racing after starting in P15, with Fernando Barrichello going from P17 to ninth, as Freddie Slater took the last point once Ugochukwu’s penalty was applied – leaving the top two tied on points heading into the Feature Race.
KEY QUOTE – Théophile Nael, Campos Racing
“P1 today, starting from P6, super happy, really good start, the pace was really good, managed to take it easy with the tyres, and push a bit more at the end, so extremely happy, and looking forward to tomorrow.”
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
In the Drivers’ Championship, Ugo Ugochukwu and Freddie Slater are tied on 104 points heading into the Feature Race, with Théophile Nael closing the gap to the top two on 75 points. Ernesto Rivera is up to fourth on 64 points, while Noah Stromsted is fifth with 59.
In the Teams’ Standings, Campos Racing maintain their lead on 243 points, with TRIDENT in second on a 170. Van Amersfoort Racing are third on 131 points, with ART Grand Prix fourth on 119. Rodin Motorsport are fifth on 104.
UP NEXT
The drivers will race one more time before the summer break with Sunday’s Feature Race giving them one last chance to claim victory in Budapest. Lights out is scheduled for 08:40 local time.
