Ricciardo dominates in Hungary

From his fifth pole of the year, the reigning British Formula 3 champion displayed an impressive margin of superiority. The Australian Tech 1 driver finished 13.7 seconds ahead of Carlin's Mikhail Aleshin and recorded a fastest lap six tenths quicker than his opposition.

Following a strong getaway from the front row, championship leader Aleshin threatened to take the lead at the first corner. But save for another slight opportunity on a restart from a safety car period, the Russian was unable to get on terms thereafter.

"That was a really hot race, but growing up in Australia possibly meant I wasn't feeling it as much as some of the European drivers," said Ricciardo. "I picked up some crap on my tyres behind the safety car and it took a couple of laps for them to clear. After that I could see from my pit board that I was getting further and further ahead."

The closest scrap among the frontrunners was between Sten Pentus and Brendon Hartley for third place. Fortec's Pentus passed Tech 1 driver Hartley on the run down to Turn 1 at the start, but was forced to spend the rest of the race defending his position.

Pentus' Fortec team-mate Jon Lancaster had also attacked Hartley at the start, only to encounter trouble and drop back to 16th at the completion of the opening lap. The fifth-place qualifier's recovery drive ended after tangling with Walter Grubmuller (P1) at the final corner on lap 21.

Fifth eventually fell to Junior Lotus man Nelson Panciatici, who held off a charging Albert Costa (Epsilon Euskadi) by half a second at the chequered flag. Formula Renault Eurocup champion Costa had worked his way up through the field from 16th on the grid.

Magny-Cours victor Nathanael Berthon (Draco), who started from last position after crashing in qualifying, became the first of eight retirements after clipping Epsilon's Keisuke Kunimoto at the chicane on the first lap.

The safety car was called out when Sergio Canamasas (Interwetten) left the road at Turn 11 on lap four. Ricciardo lost a 3.1s lead as a result, and allowed Aleshin a final chance of making an overtaking attempt.

"I think I was too cautious at the start," said Aleshin. "That was my best opportunity and perhaps I could have braked later and tried to pass. Even so Danny was so much quicker I think it would have been hard to keep him behind."

Rookie team KMP Racing lost a possible strong points haul after Anton Nebylitskiy was called in from sixth place to serve a drivethrough penalty for not respecting the track limits.

Aleshin leads the championship with 87 points, with Ricciardo now just six adrift. Esteban Guerrieri remains in third on 58 after the withdrawal of his ISR team from the meeting. The team pulled out after technical inspection revealed cracked tubs, possibly caused by kerb damage.

Pos  Driver             Team                Time/Gap
 1.  Daniel Ricciardo   Tech 1            47m14.151s
 2.  Mikhail Aleshin    Carlin             + 13.758s
 3.  Sten Pentus        Fortec             + 29.710s
 4.  Brendon Hartley    Tech 1             + 31.154s
 5.  Nelson Panciatici  Junior Lotus       + 38.845s
 6.  Albert Costa       Epsilon Euskadi    + 39.345s
 7.  Jan Charouz        P1                 + 39.796s
 8.  Daniel Zampieri    Pons             + 1m00.963s
 9.  Jake Rosenzweig    Carlin           + 1m02.240s
10.  Keisuke Kunimoto   Epsilon Euskadi  + 1m02.819s
11.  Anton Nebylitskiy  KMP              + 1m03.345s
12.  Walter Grubmuller  P1               + 1m05.581s
13.  Victor Garcia      KMP              + 1m06.716s
14.  Bruno Mendez       FHV Interwetten  + 1m25.715s

Retirements:

     Greg Mansell       Comtec           22 laps
     Jon Lancaster      Fortec           20 laps
     Stefano Coletti    Comtec           17 laps
     Daniil Move        Junior Lotus     13 laps
     Sergio Canamasas   FHV Interwetten  3 laps
     Nathanael Berthon  Draco            1 lap
     Federico Leo       Pons             0 laps
     Julian Leal        Draco            0 laps