NAËL TAKES HUNGARIAN F3 SPRINT VICTORY AFTER CHAOTIC START - Motorsportsclicks

Théophile Naël won the Formula 3 Sprint Race at the Hungaroring after a race that was heavily influenced by an incident at the start. The Campos Racing driver took advantage of the early chaos, managed the race perfectly and secured an important victory in the championship fight.

The race was decided within the first few corners when Jin Nakamura made contact with Gerrard Xie, causing both his own race and Maciej Gladysz’s race to end immediately. The incident brought out the Safety Car on the opening lap and completely changed the order at the front.

Kanato Le restarted the race from first place after gaining positions during the opening chaos, with Naël right behind him after also making a strong start. Once racing resumed, the first battles began, including a fight between Ugo Ugochukwu and Nicola Lacorte for sixth position.

Ugochukwu managed to pass Lacorte on lap seven and quickly continued his recovery, overtaking Brando Badoer to move into fifth place. Meanwhile, at the front, Naël launched an attack on Le and completed a late-braking move to take the lead of the race.

At the halfway point, Naël controlled the pace while Le stayed within one second, waiting for an opportunity to fight back. Behind them, championship contenders Freddie Slater and Ugochukwu were trying to recover important points, with Slater stuck in ninth position.

Ugochukwu’s race then took a difficult turn after receiving a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage by leaving the track during the opening lap. The Campos driver had recovered well, but the penalty and tyre management issues in the final laps dropped him down the order.

With three laps remaining, Badoer took advantage of Ugochukwu’s struggles to recover fifth place. Lacorte also attempted to pass the American driver but lost a position to Tuukka Taponen before recovering seventh place on the final lap.

Naël crossed the finish line to take a crucial victory and close the gap in the championship battle. Slater also lost valuable points after finishing only tenth, while Ugochukwu ended the race in 17th after the penalty.

The result gives Naël a major boost heading into the Feature Race, while the title fight remains open with both Ugochukwu and Slater losing ground at the Hungaroring.