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.”