Podium hat trick for Alpine Academy as FIA Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3 race in Hungary

Jack secured his first win of the 2023 Formula 2 season, finishing Sunday’s Feature Race with a nine second margin to Fred­erik Vesti in second place. Starting his weekend off strong Jack claimed pole posi­tion in Friday’s Qual­i­fying session to set himself up for a successful run on Sunday. He lined up 10th in Saturday’s reverse grid Sprint Race, battling with Vesti before ulti­mately finishing in the same posi­tion he started. Leading every lap of Sunday’s Feature Race, Jack showed incred­ible pace, adding the cherry on the cake with the Fastest Lap. In doing so, Jack became only the second driver in Formula 2 history to take pole posi­tion, lead every lap, win the race and take the fastest lap.

Victor also claimed a podium in Hungary, finishing Sunday’s Feature Race in third with less than a second gap to Vesti in second. Starting the weekend on the front foot, closing out Friday’s Free Prac­tice in third, Victor went on to qualify second, just 0.052secs behind Jack to secure an Alpine Academy front row lock out for Sunday’s Feature Race. Lining up ninth for the Sprint Race on Saturday he made up two places in the first lap to reach seventh where he remained until the chequered flag, finishing just 0.3secs behind Kush Maini in sixth. In Sunday’s Feature Race Victor showed incred­ible pace, crossing the chequered flag in third 16 seconds ahead of Ayumu Iwasa in fourth.

Gabriele was the third Alpine Academy driver who claimed a podium over the weekend in Hungary, securing his second FIA Formula 3 victory in Saturday’s Sprint Race. Strug­gling with pace in Free Prac­tice and a drying track in Qual­i­fying, Gabriele finished Friday’s after­noon session in 12th. Despite putting him on the back foot for Sunday’s race his result meant he would start Saturday’s reverse grid Sprint Race from the front of the grid. Battling with Nikita Bedrin, Gabriele managed to main­tain his first-​place posi­tion, claiming the top spot on the podium. Unfor­tu­nately, the Italian driver was left without new tyres for Sunday’s Feature Race which meant he strug­gled to match the pace of those who had them, being pushed down the order as a result, to finish the race in 16th place.

Nikola had a mixed weekend in Budapest, starting off strong with his best qual­i­fying result of the season, the Bulgarian driver finished Friday’s after­noon session in seventh. Saturday’s Sprint Race saw Nikola retain his place in the point scoring posi­tions until an inci­dent at the Safety Car restart forced him to retire from the race. In Sunday’s short­ened Feature Race, he strug­gled with pace and tyre wear, falling through the order as a result. Crossing the chequered flag in 22nd Nikola then received a 10-​second time penalty to ulti­mately finish 25th.

Sophia once again showed incred­ible race pace over the weekend in Hungary, despite starting on the back foot after Qual­i­fying. Finishing Friday’s Free Prac­tice and Qual­i­fying sessions in 23rd and 28th respec­tively, the German driver stormed through the order in Saturday’s Sprint Race, making up 11 places on track, ulti­mately finishing in 15th. In Sunday’s Feature Race she repeated her show of pace, moving up to finish in 18th place. Making up a total of 23 places, Sophia was the driver with the most posi­tions gained across the weekend.

The Alpine Academy now looks ahead to Belgium for Round 11 of the FIA Formula 2 Cham­pi­onship and the penul­ti­mate round of the FIA Formula 3 Cham­pi­onship.

Jack Doohan, Invicta Virtuosi Racing: “I am happy with the weekend. It was great to get pole posi­tion and, although we had a bit more pace avail­able, we ended up not needing to complete the final lap, but it was nice to know we had that bit extra avail­able going into the races. The Sprint Race was a test for Sunday to make sure we were in the right window. We were quite close, but I got a bit shuf­fled out of the order and we finished in 10th where we had started. I was a little disap­pointed not to get a couple more points, but the impor­tant thing is that we learned what we needed to for the Feature Race. Sunday was one of those days where it all went right, which was great. I got off the line very well and managed to race for the first 11 laps before I started to build pace on the soft tyre which we extended to lap 24. We were the last car to box, and we were on the primary strategy, so it was great to see that we were able to make the soft compound last that long. On the prime we had supe­rior pace and to set the fastest lap of the race by eight tenths was a good cherry on top to collect the extra point. All in all, I am super happy with the weekend and now my focus is looking ahead to Belgium.”

Victor Martins, ART Grand Prix: “It was a really good weekend overall, we got some great points and showed strong pace throughout the whole weekend. We started the weekend well qual­i­fying in second. We were happy with the car’s perfor­mance and what we were able to do in Qual­i­fying to set us up for the races. From there it was about focusing on the racing and trying to main­tain the momentum and keep the confi­dence high, we were looking to maximise where we could, learn as much as possible and put what we had learned from previous rounds into prac­tice. Of course, to finish third and collect another Feature Race podium is a good reward and it is showing again that we have the car, we have the perfor­mance to be at the top and we will have many oppor­tu­ni­ties again in the next rounds.”

Gabriele Minì, Hitech Racing: “Going into the Hungarian Grand Prix we knew that we had to try and keep our place in the cham­pi­onship but of course we also knew it wouldn’t be easy. We tried our best over the weekend, but from Free Prac­tice we strug­gled to get a compet­i­tive lap time and then with tricky condi­tions in Qual­i­fying we strug­gled again with pace. In the end I still managed to set a time which got me in the top 12 which set us up well for the reverse grid Sprint Race. I managed to take the win in Saturday’s Sprint Race but sadly this left us without any good tyres for Sunday. As a result, we strug­gled with pace in the Feature Race compared to those competi­tors on fresh tyres. I managed my tyres the best I could even though the pace was slow and in the final four laps I was able to catch up 10 seconds. Sadly, this wasn’t enough to over­take anyone and reach the points with so few laps left. I think we showed we had the pace for points, espe­cially on Saturday but of course we need to keep improving our Qual­i­fying to start further up the grid for the Feature Race where we can collect a bigger haul.”

Nikola Tsolov, ART Grand Prix: “It was a mixed weekend for me in Budapest. We started off really strong on Friday, taking my best Qual­i­fying result of the year with seventh place and managing to be first within the team. In Saturday’s Sprint Race we had some good pace, and every­thing was going well, and I was holding my place in the points scoring posi­tions, but unfor­tu­nately an inci­dent late on in the race meant that I was forced to retire early. Sunday’s Feature Race didn’t go as planned and I had a lot of issue with the tyres which meant I strug­gled with pace and fell through the order. Now we are focusing on Spa-​Francorchamps, a track I am familiar with and really look forward to racing.”

Sophia Floersch, PHM Racing: “We had a bad Friday but strong perfor­mance on Saturday Sunday in Hungary. The tricky condi­tions in Qual­i­fying on Friday compro­mised our whole weekend, we had the wrong sequence and not enough fuel meant that we would start from 28th in both races. We showed strong pace with some good fights in the Sprint and Feature Races, finishing 15th and 18th respec­tively. We were the driver with the most over­takes which I am happy with, but it just shows that we are starting completely out of posi­tion. We are looking ahead to fix that for Belgium.”