Hungaroring F3.5: Cecotto inherits maiden victory after mistakes from rivals
RP Motorsport and Johnny Cecotto secured their maiden Formula V8 3.5 victory at just their third attempt in Race 1 at the Hungaroring.
Johnny Cecotto Jr., RP Motorsport
Formula V8 3.5
Third after the start, the GP2 veteran took advantage of errors from both Tom Dillmann and Louis Deletraz to take the lead.
While the front row of Dillmann and Aurelien Panis was a repeat from the previous race at Aragon, the former made the better getaway this time around.
Panis fell behind Louis Deletraz off the line and was quickly demoted to fourth by Cecotto as well.
The Venezuelan took advantage of a mistake from Deletraz to reach second, but failed to make up serious ground on Dillmann before the safety car interrupted the race.
The caution was brought out after contact between Alfonso Celis and Egor Orudzhev at the entry of the Turn 8 chicane.
The latter tried to overtake on the inside but, slightly forced on the gravel under braking, the duo ended up making contact and retiring.
Although Dillmann had a perfect restart and looked comfortable in the lead, the AVF driver ran wide at the penultimate turn, allowing Cecotto through.
Followed by Deletraz, the trio continued to stay close for the rest of the race but, with the lack of overtaking attempts, Cecotto secured his and newcomer team RP Motorsport's first victory.
Dillmann and Deletraz settled for second and third respectively, with Panis finishing fourth.
The latter had to keep Matthieu Vaxiviere at bay, the SMP Racing driver passing Roy Nissany for fifth.
Beitske Visser ended up seventh ahead of Fortec's Pietro Fittipaldi, fellow Teo Martin teammate Yu Kanamaru and reigning Euroformula Open champion Vitor Baptista.
The order was completed by Rene Binder as Matevos Isaakyan retired in the pits early in the race and Giuseppe Cipriani spun into the gravel on the penultimate lap.
Race 1 results:
Pos | Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Johnny Cecotto Jr. | RP Motorsport | 42'58.954 |
2 | Tom Dillmann | AVF | 2.290 |
3 | Louis Deletraz | Fortec Motorsports | 3.075 |
4 | Aurelien Panis | Arden Motorsport | 14.082 |
5 | Matthieu Vaxiviere | SMP Racing | 14.443 |
6 | Roy Nissany | Lotus | 16.162 |
7 | Beitske Visser | Teo Martin Motorsport | 16.855 |
8 | Peitro Fittipaldi | Fortec Motorsports | 17.291 |
9 | Yu Kanamaru | Teo Martin Motorsport | 17.957 |
10 | Vitor Baptista | RP Motorsport | 20.429 |
11 | Rene Binder | Lotus | 20.868 |
Ret | Giuseppe Cipriani | Durango Racing Team | |
Ret | Alfonso Celis | AVF | |
Ret | Egor Orudzhev | Arden Motorsport | |
Ret | Matevos Isaakyan | SMP Racing |
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