Carroll wins chaotic race in Hungary

Carroll, who started sixth, stayed out later than the other front-runners, despite the threat of a safety car when Pastor Maldonado shunted heavily at Turn 3 just behind him.

The real turning point came on lap 14, when Luca Filippi suffered a huge accident that sent his Super Nova car into the barriers at high speed exiting the final corner.

As he spun back across the track, he clipped Vitaly Petrov, who in turn collected Xandi Negrao. All three were uninjured, but the safety car was required.

Carroll made his stop as the safety car boards came out. Although it looked too late to keep the lead, the short nature of the Hungaroring's pitlane, coupled with the fact that Karun Chandhok was heading the pack at a sensibly slow pace through the debris field, Carroll managed to rejoin in front of everyone - but only just.

Chandhok, who was yet to make his mandatory stop, ran second but was soon demoted by Kazuki Nakajima at the restart. Borja Garcia, on the same strategy as Carroll, ran fourth but was soon passed by Andi Zuber, who then demoted Chandhok for third a couple of laps later.

Zuber chased down Nakajima, who ran close to Carroll until the finish, but could not find a way past those in front. So Carroll won by 0.7 seconds from Nakajima and the close-following Zuber.

Giorgio Pantano should have been at least fourth, but his car broke down in the last eight laps, just as he looked poised to make an attack on the leaders. That promoted Lucas di Grassi to fourth, and he has now closed to within four points of the series lead.

Di Grassi led from the start, passing pole man Timo Glock around the outside of the first corner, but gave up his top spot to Pantano when he ran wide.

Glock suffered a disastrous pitstop, when his right-rear refused to tighten correctly. His charge back through the field was interrupted when he clipped Adrian Zaugg and spun. He finished 10th.

Borja Garcia finished fifth, ahead of Roldan Rodriguez, Zaugg and Javier Villa. Villa takes the reverse grid pole position for Sunday.

Pos  Driver       Team                      Time               
 1.  Carroll      FMS International    1h06:39.582
 2.  Nakajima     DAMS                    + 0.714
 3.  Zuber        iSport International    + 1.156
 4.  Di Grassi    ART Grand Prix          + 12.204
 5.  Garcia       Durango                 + 13.072
 6.  Rodriguez    Minardi Piquet Sports   + 17.513
 7.  Zaugg        Arden International     + 31.138
 8.  Villa        Racing Engineering      + 31.455
 9.  Tung         BCN Competicion         + 31.994
10.  Glock        iSport International    + 32.399
11.  Hirate       Trident Racing          + 32.826
12.  Soucek       DPR                     + 38.226
13.  Senna        Arden International     + 38.936
14.  Chandhok     Durango                 + 49.538
15.  Buemi        ART Grand Prix          + 4 LAPS

Not Classified:

     Driver       Team                       On lap
     Pantano      Campos Grand Prix             34
     Bakkerud     DPR                           28
     Tahinci      FMS International             22
     Petrov       Campos Grand Prix             12
     Negrao       Minardi Piquet Sports         12
     Filippi      Super Nova International      12
     Niemela      BCN Competicion               11
     Maldonado    Trident Racing                 8
     Lapierre     DAMS                           8
     Conway       Super Nova International       0

Fastest lap: Buemi - 1:29.578