Théophile Nael Wins F3 Sprint Race at Hungaroring

Théophile Nael won the Formula 3 Sprint Race at the Hungaroring in Hungary, taking the lead on the way to his second victory of the season. Reports varied on whether he started sixth or seventh on the grid, but Nael worked his way forward and passed Kanato Le for the lead before pulling clear to win by 2.7 seconds for Campos Racing.

The race began with Kanato Le on reverse-grid pole and Gerrard Xie briefly ahead on the opening lap before Le reclaimed the lead. Xie later moved to the front again, but a mistake opened the door for Nael to take over and control the rest of the race. The only Safety Car came on lap one after contact involving Xie, Jin Nakamura and Maciej Gladysz into Turn 2, an incident that eliminated Nakamura and Gladysz from the race and left Xie with a puncture and at the back of the field.

Le finished second for his first Formula 3 podium, while Ernesto Rivera was third to give Campos Racing two cars in the top three. Mattia Colnaghi finished fourth for the third straight race. Freddie Slater scored the final point in 10th after Ugo Ugochukwu received a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, leaving Slater and Ugochukwu level on 104 points heading into Sunday’s Feature Race, scheduled for 08:40 local time.