Starting with two cars on the front row on the Feature Race grid, PREMA Racing sailed to a brilliant 1-2 finish as the FIA Formula 3 Championship signed off round 8 of 2023 at the Hungaroring.

British racer Zak O’Sullivan led every lap from pole position en-route to his fourth win of the season. The 18-year-old Williams Driver Academy driver maximized the potential showed since the opening day and put up a controlling run in the rest of the race, which was shortened due to tyre degradation concerns.

He was challenged by teammate Dino Beganovic in the final couple of laps, as the 19-year-old Swede tried to use tyre management to his advantage after starting second. Eventually, it turned out to be too late for him to stop O’Sullivan, but the Ferrari Driver Academy man still collected valuable points.

Paul Aron brought home a good points finish too as he started from P6 and gained one spot to round out the top-5. The 19-year-old Estonian sealed every chance available on a track where passing is not the easiest and where mistakes can be extremely costly. With today’s triple points finish, PREMA fought back to the lead of the Team Championship.

1 PAUL ARON

“Very interesting race here on Sunday. We already saw on Saturday that there is a lot of degradation to be expected on this track and in fact, the race was shortened by five laps because of worries about tyre degradation. We started from sixth and finished fifth, I think it’s the maximum we could do today. The team did a very good job, and congratulations to them for a 1-2 and a fifth place, very good points. From my side, it was the maximum that we could do. We didn’t have the pace to move further up, but we made one position and got good points for the championship. I’m leaving Hungary quite happy. Now the goal for Spa is to sort it out in qualifying.”

Qualifying: P6
Starting Position Race 1: P6
Starting Position Race 2: P6
Fastest Lap: 1:31.744
Race 1: P4
Race 2: P5

2 DINO BEGANOVIC

“P2 in Budapest, happy for the result, good points for the championship, and a nice comeback after Silverstone. That’s what makes it even more special that we can come back straight away with a good result and a 1-2 for the team, which I’m happy about. I need to give massive credit to the team because we never stopped pushing, and this is the time where we need to keep pushing to be in a good position at the end of the final round. It was difficult with the tyres, Zak built a gap in the beginning, while I had a bit of rubber left in the end. I started catching, but I began pushing a little too late. Maybe I didn’t maximize it completely, but I’m still really happy with P2.”

Qualifying: P2
Starting Position Race 1: P11
Starting Position Race 2: P2
Fastest Lap: 1:31.494
Race 1: P10
Race 2: P2

3 ZAK O’SULLIVAN

“The Feature Race is done, and it’s really good to get another win. The pace was really strong, and I managed to pull a gap early. It got a bit tricky in the end, as Dino started catching on the last couple of laps. It has been a really good weekend for me and the team, 1 and 2 in the feature race means good points. The pace has been strong all weekend, so I’m looking forward to Spa.”

Qualifying: P1
Starting Position Race 1: P12
Starting Position Race 2: P1
Fastest Lap: 1:31.091
Race 1: P23
Race 2: P1

Source | Photo: PREMA Racing