EU: Hungaroring: Series race 1 report

Frijns wins again but it was no Greek Tragedy for Katsinis.

Budapest, 31 July 2010. It was win number four for Robin Frijns (NL/Josef Kaufmann Racing), podium number ten out of 11 for second placed Jack Harvey (GB/Fortec Motorsports), but the biggest grin on the podium was certainly that of third placed George Katsinis (GR/Fortec Motorsports). Not only was this the first podium in Formula BMW Europe for the Greek driver, but most likely the only podium ever over a Formula One weekend for someone of his nationality. Fourth and the best Rookie for the eighth time was Carlos Sainz (ES/Eurointernational).

All the drivers made a clean start and it was Frijns leading Harvey into the first corner, with Daniil Kvyat (RU/Eurointernational) trying to take the Brit on the outside. However, as they settled down it was Frijns by 1.6 seconds at the end of the first lap, with Harvey having to fend off Sainz, who was just 0.4secs behind. As Frijns pulled away in the opening laps the battle for third was fast and furious, with Harvey not only having to watch for Sainz but also Katsinis and Kvyat, who were right behind.

By lap four the battle was even tougher. Frijns had a 3.0 second lead, but the gaps behind him from second to 12th were fractions. It was Harvey, Sainz, Katsinis, Kvyat, Timmy Hansen (SE/Mucke Motorsport), Côme Ledogar (FR/Eifelland Racing), Hannes Van Asseldonk (NL/Josef Kaufmann Racing), Facu Regalia (AR/Eifelland Racing, Fahmi Ilyas (MY/DAMS), Javier Tarancon (ES/DAMS) and Maciej Bernacik (PL/Mucke Motorsport) with the respective gaps being 0.9, 0.6, 0.8, 0.9, 0.6, 0.9, 0.1, 0.5, 0.6 and 0.3!

The youngsters also proved passing is possible on a track which is notoriously difficult for this. On lap seven Ledogar got by Hansen. On lap ten Katsinis got by Sainz. On lap 11 Ledogar got by Kvyat. However, on the final lap the drivers had to exercise extreme caution as on the penultimate lap Hansen's car laid some oil down. At first the Swede thought his exhaust had gone, but then realised it was engine failure so pulled off the track. As they crossed the line the gap from Frijns to Harvey was down to 1.4 seconds, having been as big as 3.0 seconds.

1st Round 11: Robin Frijns (NL/Josef Kaufmann Racing): "It was a great feeling winning. We have worked hard for Budapest because last year the car wasn't that good here. Now the car is brilliant with a lot of grip. I had an amazing start and a good first lap, and showed the way by about a second and a half immediately. Jack was fighting for second so I was able to pull away quite easily. Then he was able to lose Carlos and I think was on the same pace as me. I was quite lucky on the last lap becasue Timmy lost oil. Lars (Kaufmann) told me on the radio and so I took it quite easy, Jack came back about half a second in the second sector, but I won and it is great to be back on the podium."

2nd Round 11 : Jack Harvey (GB/Fortec Motorsports): "It was a pretty good race. I had another good start and was able to put pressure on Robin so he had to defend in the first corner, but I couldn't really try on the outside because there was a queue of people behind me. Again Robin was really fast in the opening laps so I couldn't keep up his pace. By the end I managed to reel him in, and the oil helped a bit but I was just not fast enough. The track conditions were pretty similar to yesterday. I am happy with today, tomorrow I start on pole so am going for the win."

3rd Round 11: George Katsinis (GR/Fortec Motorsports): "I am excited because I am the first Greek driver to be on a podium on a Formula 1 weekend. As I was on the podium I was looking up all the time to see the Greek flag going up, and I feel very proud. I did a good qualifying and started fourth. Then I had a good pace and was able to follow Carlos in third and was waiting for him to make a mistake. This happened so I am on the podium. It is very hard to overtake round here. "

4th Round 11 Top Rookie: Carlos Sainz (ES/Eurointernational): "We were doing a good job in the first half of the race, but then I started to feel that the rear tyres were going off and there wasn't grip anymore. I made a little mistake in turn two and George passed me. He deserved third because he was a second a lap faster. In the end I am happy, but on the other hand not happy as fourth is not the podium, but it is not so bad and I think we have done the maximum we can do."

-source: fbmw eu