EU: Hungaroring: Jack Harvey event summary

TOP STEP RETURN FOR HARVEY IN HUNGARY

Lincolnshire based racer Jack Harvey took his sixth victory of the year to maintain his lead in the Formula BMW Europe Series at the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend. Another win and a second place mean the Racing Steps Foundation supported driver keeps a 23 point advantage at the top of the championship standings.

17-year-old Alpinestars backed Harvey went into the Hungarian meeting confident of making a return to the top step of the podium after taking second and third place finishes at the previous round, in Germany.

In qualifying, the Fortec motorsport driver's best lap put him third on the grid for the opening race of the weekend, despite only being one-tenth of a second behind the fastest time. However, his second quickest lap was good enough for pole-position for race two. After the session had finished Jack was promoted to second place for race one when one of his rivals was given a penalty.

At the start of race one Jack maintained his second place and was immediately forced to defend his position. This allowed his title rival to gain an advantage and pull ahead. As the race progressed Jack gained more pace and in the closing stages was able to begin reeling him in, but he was unable to get close enough in the remaining laps.

In race two Jack made a great start but had to defend his line through the first corner as a rival tried to go up the inside of him. However, he was able to close the door and as the rest of the chasing pack started fighting between themselves he was able to pull out a lead of just over four seconds by the time he reached the chequered flag.

An understandably happy Jack was pleased to make a return to the top step of the podium and maintain his series lead in the process.

"It's been a really good weekend," he said. "Qualifying was very close and despite starting from the front row I just lacked a little bit of pace to be able to stay with Robin (Frijns, his title rival) in the first part of race one.

"I got a great start in the second race but had to cover my line through the first corner as the guy alongside put his nose up the inside. I had to push really hard throughout the entire race. It meant I was able to get a good lead on the rest of the field as they were battling behind me I still needed to concentrate as it's tough circuit and I wanted to take win number six!" He added.

Jack now has a four week break before the penultimate rounds of the series take place at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. The youngster is looking forward to his break in the season before getting back on-track for the final stages of the championship.

"It's been a fairly hectic few months so I'm going to relax a little bit in the next week or so, concentrate on my training and see my friends and catch up with people I haven't seen for a while," he said. "Then I'm going to concentrate completely on the last two rounds of the season and keep my focus on that. I want to step onto the top step of the podium a few more times before the end of the year yet!" He added.

-source: jackharveyracing.com