Hungaroring: Series race two report

Carbone's footprint

Leader from start to finish, Fabio Carbone (Ultimate-Signature) claimed his first victory of the season and climbed to third place in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series championship. With second-place for the second time this weekend, Julien Jousse (Tech 1 Racing) confirmed his place as runner-up. More than 120,000 fans attended the third round of the World Series by Renault.

Fabio Carbone lined up in pole position for the second race of the weekend, with its obligatory tyre-change. Alvaro Barba (Prema Powerteam), originally fifth on the grid, was relegated to ninth position for dangerous driving in the first race.

Carbone made the most of his pole position and took the lead ahead of Miguel Molina with an excellent start. Julien Jousse was third ahead of Giedo Van der Garde (P1 Motorsport) and Robert Wickens (Carlin Motorsport). Marcos Martinez (Pons Racing), Guillaume Moreau (KTR) and Pippa Mann (P1 Motorsport) did not complete the first lap and the safety car was brought out. Daniil Move (KTR), who was also involved in incidents at the start, pulled into the pits to change his nose cone.

When the action resumed, Carbone retained his lead ahead of Molina, Jousse, Van der Garde and Wickens. In ninth position, Bertrand Baguette (International Draco) made his first attempt to pass Charles Pic (Tech 1 Racing). The Belgian moved up to eighth place on the following lap.

On lap five, Giedo Van der Garde, Robert Wickens and Alvaro Barba pulled into the pits to perform their tyre change. Julien Jousse followed suit on the next lap. The race order had changed with Carbone now leading ahead of Molina, Baguette and Marco Barba. All of these drivers had yet to stop.

Fabio Carbone pulled in on the twelfth lap, leaving the pits just ahead of Julien Jousse. Miguel Molina was the last to make his stop. The Spaniard had miscalculated and found himself third behind Jousse. Van der Garde and Baguette made up the provisional top five.

Things were moving in the main field. In eighth, Robert Wickens was passed one after another by Alexandre Marsoin and Charles Pic. On form, Marsoin closed on the Barba brothers, Alvaro ahead of Marco, in a fight for sixth place. Marco made a mistake, which helped Marsoin. Meanwhile, Wickens had passed Pic.

The show really got underway on lap twenty-two as Giedo Van der Garde, then fourth, crashed out, his race coming to an end in the gravel trap! For the second time in nine races, the leader of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series scored no points.

Fabio Carbone: "We have struggled since the start of the season, but this weekend has been perfect. Everyone's done a great job. I'm certain that we can continue this run and fight for the title. The season is far from over!"

Julien Jousse: "I'm a little disappointed not to have won, because it was within reach this weekend. We lost some time during the pit-stop. However, this race is a good result in terms of the Championship standings."

Miguel Molina: "This podium finish is very important to me. I'm hoping that my season really got started today! I put pressure on Carbone, but he was too quick. After that I held it together till the finish."

-credit: wsbyrenault.com