24/07/2016
NEWS STORY
Sergey Sirotkin has put his title challenge back on track with a crushing win in this morning's Sprint Race at the Hungaroring to add to yesterday's podium, capitalising on his rival's mistakes before leaving everyone behind to claim victory ahead of Jordan King and Norman Nato.
The groundwork for the win was set up at the start: poleman King made a good escape when the lights went out but Nato was slow away from second and was soon fighting with Nobuharu Matsushita, but Sirotkin was faster than them both to slide inside the squabble and into P2 at Turn one, with his teammate coming together with Antonio Giovinazzi behind him and Raffaele Marciello running wide to avoid the collision.
Arthur Pic spun on his own at Turn two and triggered mayhem: Gustav Malja ran over Alex Lynn's rear wheel, with the Swede continuing but the Briton out on the spot, while Matsushita and Luca Ghiotto found the outside barriers for early retirement, spurring a safety car period to remove the four cars. The race was to go live on lap 4, but at the front King ran wide at Turn 13 and Sirotkin was all over him: the pair ran side by side all the way to Turn 4 when the Russian broke through into the lead, and within seconds he was gone.
Sirotkin set a string of fastest laps to set up a lead that was never to be challenged, putting on a driving masterclass to win by almost five seconds from King, who thereafter had a lonely race for a solid second place. Teammate Nato held on for a podium despite constant pressure from Artem Markelov, who overtook former teammate Mitch Evans for 4th just 8 laps in but was unable to repeat the move on the Frenchman, while Oliver Rowland stared at the New Zealander's exhaust pipe for much of the race but just couldn't get by. Pierre Gasly moved up to P7 and claimed points for the fastest lap, while Marciello grabbed the last point of the race in 8th place.
1. Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix
2. Jordan King Racing Engineering
3. Norman Nato Racing Engineering
4. Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME
5. Mitch Evans Pertamina Campos Racing
6. Oliver Rowland MP Motorsport
7. Pierre Gasly PREMA Racing
8. Raffaele Marciello RUSSIAN TIME
9. Sergio Canamasas Carlin
10. Sean Gelael Pertamina Campos Racing
11. Daniël de Jong MP Motorsport
12. Nicholas Latifi DAMS
13. Marvin Kirchhöfer Carlin
14. Gustav Malja Rapax
15. Philo Paz Armand Trident
16. Nabil Jeffri Arden International
17. Antonio Giovinazzi PREMA Racing
Fastest Lap: Pierre Gasly (PREMA Racing) 1:29.184 (lap 27)
Not Classified
Jimmy Eriksson Arden International
Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix
Arthur Pic Rapax
Alex Lynn DAMS
Luca Ghiotto Trident
Drivers Standings after Hungary (Round 6 of 11)
| Pos | Name | Nat | Team | Points |
| 1 | Gasly | FRA | Prema Racing | 107 |
| 2 | Giovinazzi | ITA | Prema Racing | 96 |
| 3 | Marciello | ITA | Russian Time | 85 |
| 4 | Rowland | GBR | MP Motorsport | 83 |
| 5 | Nato | FRA | Racing Engineering | 81 |
| 6 | King | GBR | Racing Engineering | 80 |
| 7 | Evans | NZL | Pertamina Campos Racing | 77 |
| 8 | Sirotkin | RUS | ART Grand Prix | 70 |
| 9 | Markelov | RUS | Russian Time | 65 |
| 10 | Matsushita | JPN | ART Grand Prix | 56 |
| 11 | Lynn | GBR | DAMS | 51 |
| 12 | Ghiotto | ITA | Trident | 38 |
| 13 | Gelael | INO | Pertamina Campos Racing | 24 |
| 14 | Latifi | CAN | DAMS | 21 |
| 15 | Kirchhofer | GER | Carlin | 19 |
| 16 | Canamasas | GBR | Carlin | 14 |
| 17 | Pic | FRA | Rapax | 14 |
| 18 | Eriksson | SWE | Arden International | 10 |
| 19 | de Jong | NED | MP Motorsport | 6 |
| 20 | Malja | SWE | Rapax | 3 |
| 21 | Jeffri | MAS | Arden International | 2 |
Team standings after Hungary (Round 6 of 11)
| Pos | Team | Points |
| 1 | Prema Racing | 203 |
| 2 | Racing Engineering | 161 |
| 3 | Russian Time | 150 |
| 4 | ART Grand Prix | 126 |
| 5 | Pertamina Campos Racing | 101 |
| 6 | MP Motorsport | 89 |
| 7 | DAMS | 72 |
| 8 | Trident | 38 |
| 9 | Carlin | 33 |
| 10 | Rapax | 17 |
| 11 | Arden International | 12 |