Jean-Eric Vergne dominates at Hungaroring in Formula Renault 3.5

Rain prior to the start contributed to some unexpected action before the race got under way. Both fifth starter, and new Hispania Formula 1 signing, Daniel Ricciardo (ISR) and Mofaz Racing's Jake Rosenzweig crashed on slick tyres on the way to the grid.

Front row starter Daniil Move (P1 Motorsport) then got the jump on poleman Vergne into Turn 1. But Move would run marginally wide on the exit of the corner, allowing the Carlin racer to retake the position. Thereafter, Vergne led every lap and would stretch out a 17-second margin of victory.

"It had rained a lot about an hour before the race, and Turns 1, 2 and 3 were really slippery," said Vergne. "They're where you want to be fighting at the start. Daniil made a better start than me, but he braked a just a little bit late and as there was only one dry line on the exit of the corner I took it. After that I took the first few laps cautiously, found out where the grip was, and then started to push."

An eventful race took place in the Frenchman's wake. Alexander Rossi, with whom Vergne suffered a collision with at the most recent meeting at the Nurburgring, emerged to finish in second place ahead of debut Formula Renault 3.5 podium finisher Sergio Canamasas (BVM Target).

"I finished in the pit-wall with [Rossi] in Germany and now we are both on the podium together!" Vergne joked.

Gravity-Charouz man Brendon Hartley held a distant third spot behind Move on the opening lap, with Rossi pressuring the Kiwi in fourth. Hartley would soon up the tempo and close in on Move.

The battle for fifth between Move's P1 Motorsport team-mate Adam Carroll and Canamasas was also closely contested. Canamasas had been demoted from a front row starting position after receiving a four-place grid penalty for an incident at the Nurburgring.

Although consistently within half a second of Move, Hartley was just a little too far back to make an overtaking attempt stick. On lap 16, Hartley jinked to the inside of Move at Turn 1, locked up slightly, and brushed the Russian's right rear tyre with his front wing endplate.

Move sustained a puncture in the incident, while Hartley's front left section of wing disintegrated five laps later. Rossi swiftly captured second, while Hartley came under pressure from Canamasas.

The dice ended when Hartley was slapped with a 10s penalty, dropping from third on the road to an eventual eighth, while Canamasas was afforded the luxury of backing off.

After Move's misery, Carroll salvaged fourth place for P1 Motorsport. Championship leader Robert Wickens (Carlin) had some heated battles as he fought his way up the order from 11th on the grid to fifth.

In a manoeuvre reminiscent of Michael Schumacher's controversial move on Rubens Barrichello at last year's Hungarian Grand Prix, Wickens was squeezed against the pit wall by Jan Charouz (Gravity-Charouz) in an early battle for eighth and was later involved in a fraught tussle with Kevin Korjus (Tech 1 Racing).

Charouz received a warning flag for his incident with Wickens, but later retired in an accident with Albert Costa at Turn 9.

Wickens remains in the lead of the championship on 147 points, with second placed Vergne closing in on 127. Sixth finisher Korjus holds third on 110, while Rossi moves up two places to fourth on 91.

Results - 29 laps:

Pos  Driver             Team                Time/Gap
 1.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Carlin            47m07.493s
 2.  Alexander Rossi    Fortec             + 17.437s
 3.  Sergio Canamasas   BVM Target         + 27.035s
 4.  Adam Carroll       P1                 + 28.537s
 5.  Robert Wickens     Carlin             + 30.455s
 6.  Kevin Korjus       Tech 1             + 33.648s
 7.  Nelson Panciatici  KMP                + 34.339s
 8.  Brendon Hartley    Gravity-Charouz    + 35.393s
 9.  Nathanael Berthon  ISR                + 46.776s
10.  Cesar Ramos        Fortec             + 48.724s
11.  Mikhail Aleshin    KMP                + 49.299s
12.  Daniel Zampieri    BVM Target         + 59.331s
13.  Fairuz Fauzy       Mofaz            + 1m02.923s
14.  Sten Pentus        Epic             + 1m03.457s
15.  Stephane Richelmi  Draco            + 1m04.001s
16.  Daniel de Jong     Comtec           + 1m04.527s
17.  Oliver Webb        Pons             + 1m05.106s
18.  Daniel McKenzie    Comtec           + 1m05.379s
19.  Arthur Pic         Tech 1           + 1m07.747s
20.  Andre Negrao       Draco            + 1m14.046s

Retirements:

     Marcos Martinez    Pons                 19 laps
     Daniil Move        P1                   17 laps
     Albert Costa       Epic                 12 laps
     Jan Charouz        Gravity-Charouz      11 laps
     Jake Rosenzweig    Mofaz                 7 laps
     Daniel Ricciardo   ISR                   0 laps