Hungaroring Auto GP: Kimiya Sato completes double victory

From eighth on the reversed grid, Sato enjoyed his second strong start of the meeting to move into fifth by Turn 1.

The Kobe driver moved to the front of the field by adopting a repeat of his race one long first stint strategy, but underlying searing pace was key to the success.

Sato's fastest lap was over a second quicker than his rivals' efforts, as he secured a 7.2-second margin of victory over polesitter Vittorio Ghirelli.

Reigning Auto GP champion and sometime Indy Lights racer Ghirelli made a slow initial getaway in his first start in the category this season, but the Italian recovered the lead from Paul Ricard winner Kevin Giovesi thanks to a bold manoeuvre around the outside of Turn 1.

Having been hamstrung by a roll-bar working loose in race one, Sam Dejonghe appeared assured in third place initially ahead of crowd favourite Tamas Pal Kiss, Sato and Ghirelli's Super Nova team-mate Markus Pommer.

Managing his tyres in cool conditions, Sato dropped behind Pommer at Turn 1 on lap four, but it was to be the only occasion where he appeared on the back foot.

As Giovesi, Dejonghe and Pommer made their pitstops, a path was cleared for Sato.

Faced with a 7.5s deficit to Ghirelli, Sato picked up the pace and was shortly the only driver lapping below the 1m35s mark.

The healthy speed advantage would allow Sato to leapfrog Ghirelli during the stops.

Last year's Hungaroring victor Ghirelli wound down the final laps in a safe second, some three seconds clear of Auto GP rookie Dejonghe, who claimed his first podium in the series.

Giovesi held off a charging drive from Dejonghe's Virtuosi UK team-mate Andrea Roda to take fourth, while Pommer completed the top six.

Sato now comfortably leads the Auto GP drivers' standings on 114 points, while second-placed Tamas Pal Kiss has 75.

Results - 18 laps:

Pos  Driver             Team/Car           Time/Gap
 1.  Kimiya Sato        Euronova         29m41.627s
 2.  Vittorio Ghirelli  Super Nova          +7.220s
 3.  Sam Dejonghe       Virtuosi           +10.668s
 4.  Kevin Giovesi      Eurotech           +14.546s
 5.  Andrea Roda        Virtuosi           +15.129s
 6.  Markus Pommer      Super Nova         +21.235s
 7.  Tamas Pal Kiss     Zele               +21.511s
 8.  Loris Spinelli     Eurotech           +34.861s
 9.  Michele La Rosa    MLR 71/Euronova    +38.489s
10.  Michela Cerruti    Super Nova         +39.275s
11.  Yoshitaka Kuroda   Zele               +59.009s

Retirements:

     Giuseppe Cipriani  Ibiza                8 laps