GP2 Hungary: Arthur Pic takes maiden win thanks to pit strategy
Arthur Pic scored his maiden GP2 victory at the Hungaroring on Saturday after a perfectly-timed safety car played into the hands of Campos Racing's pit strategy
Pic was the highest of the runners to start on the soft tyre from P3 on the grid, and despite a slow start that dropped him to sixth, he benefited from an effectively free pitstop when the safety car was required after his team-mate Kimiya Sato clashed with Stephane Richelmi, the latter crashing heavily into the tyrewall.
Carlin's Felipe Nasr led from pole position after rebuffing the early challenge of Tom Dillmann at Turn 1.
Points leader Jolyon Palmer passed Dillmann at Turn 1 on lap two, and then Nasr's 3.5s lead was obliterated by the safety car.
From the restart, Nasr and Palmer fought out an epic battle, but this all played into Pic's hands, who was keeping them within range so when they pitted he'd be ahead of them.
As Nasr and Palmer pitted, Pic inherited the lead ahead of Stefano Coletti, who had survived an early clash with a rival that punctured a tyre, and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs.
UPDATE: Coletti loses podium, Marciello loses race two pole
There was then a huge crash behind them, as Nathanael Berthon and Sergio Canamasas collided on the run to Turn 2, with Canamasas requiring medical treatment at the trackside.
Palmer and Nasr were running seventh and eighth respectively, having swapped positions many times before Palmer made a move stick just before the second safety car with a robust pass at Turn 1.
Palmer managed to charge back to fifth, passing Daniel Abt after the restart, which turned out to be a one-lap dash to the finish.
Nasr failed to make a move stick on the German, however, and he's now fallen to 39 points behind Palmer in the title race.
Raffaele Marciello should have won the race, as he was running ahead of Pic on a similar strategy, but he was caught speeding in the pitlane.
Despite serving a drive-through penalty, he recovered to eighth and reversed-grid pole for Sunday.
Rio Haryanto should have finished second, but his right-rear wheel fell off behind the safety car.
Results - 35 laps: Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Arthur Pic Campos 1h00m18.627s 2. Stefano Coletti Racing Engineering +2.787s 3. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Rapax +3.151s 4. Takuya Izawa ART +3.661s 5. Jolyon Palmer DAMS +3.828s 6. Daniel Abt Hilmer +5.111s 7. Luiz Felipe Nasr Carlin +5.190s 8. R.Marciello Racing Engineering +5.954s 9. Stoffel Vandoorne ART +6.213s 10. Nathaneal Berthon Lazarus +7.038s 11. Tom Dillmann Caterham +7.605s 12. Marco Sorensen MP +8.102s 13. Simon Trummer Rapax +8.398s 14. Mitchell Evans Russian Time +8.756s 15. Conor Daly Lazarus +11.641s 16. Daniel de Jong MP +13.436s 17. Andre Negrao Arden +14.224s 18. Artem Markelov Russian Time +15.944s 19. Jon Lancaster Hilmer +16.066s 20. Rene Binder Arden -1 lap Retirements: Rio Haryanto Caterham 30 laps Sergio Canamasas Trident 29 laps Jonny Cecotto Jr Trident 22 laps Kimiya Sato Campos 10 laps Stephane Richelmi DAMS 5 laps Julian Leal Carlin 5 laps
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