F2: Fornaroli overcomes time penalty to earn victory in Hungary

F1 Grand Prix, GP Hungary, Hungaroring

Having been handed a five-second penalty for a pit lane infringement, reigning Formula 3 champion Leonardo Fornaroli secured victory in the FIA Formula 2 Feature Race.

Leonardo Fornaroli overcame a five-second time penalty to seal his third win in as many rounds, taking a maiden FIA Formula 2 Feature Race victory in Budapest.

Starting in second behind Invicta Racing team mate Roman Stanek, Fornaroli maintained the position for the first stint. In constantly-improving conditions after morning rainfall, the Italian elected to pit later than Stanek, and the overcut worked perfectly as he was able to get ahead of the Czech driver to take the net race lead.

However, the championship leader was soon given a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane, just as Stanek had closed to within one second of him.

Although the reigning F3 champion was unable to pull away initially, he pulled out a 7.2s gap on Stanek across the line to secure the win in the F2 Feature Race in Mogyoród.

Jak Crawford closed in on Stanek in the dying stages of the race, but the American driver failed to convert his superior pace into a position gain, and was left third in the last race ahead of the summer break.

Williams Driver Academy member Luke Browning took fourth for Hitech TGR, ahead of his title rival Richard Verschoor in fifth for MP Motorsport.

Red Bull junior driver Arvid Lindblad was just able to hold off Ferrari junior racer Dino Beganovic, who displayed a sensational comeback drive.

The second MP car of Oliver Goethe was also made to work for his position, finishing eighth after holding off a late attack from Rodin Motorsport’s Alexander Dunne.

Josep María Martí made sure both Campos cars and all three Red Bull Junior drivers finished in the points, as he followed up his Sprint Race victory with a run to 10th in the Feature.

Commenting on his victory, Fornaroli added: “What a race today. Finally, we managed to take a win in the Feature Race. It was a really stressful race especially at the end with the five second penalty, I had to stay in front by more than five seconds otherwise I was losing the win.

"But in the end, we didn’t have a Safety Car. Super happy about this race, now we go into the summer break, so some rest, but then we will be back for Monza.”

Leonardo Fornaroli, now on 154 points extends his lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship, with Jak Crawford up to second on 137 points. Richard Verschoor is down to third on 135, as Luke Browning goes up to fourth on 125 points, while Alexander Dunne rounds out the top five on 124.

In the Teams’ Standings, Invicta Racing continue to lead the way with 231 points, as Campos Racing maintain second on 189, with Hitech TGR third on 183. DAMS Lucas Oil are fourth on 163 points, as MP Motorsport round out the top five on 158.