The Sprint Series headed to Hungary for the third round of the championship with Amir Hosseini looking unstoppable, having taken pole and the race win in the opening two races. However, a BOP adjustment from KUNOS that nerfed the BMW and McLaren was expected to throw a wrench in the works of Hosseini’s dominance. As it turned out, none of this mattered with the three quickest drivers of Amir Hosseini, George Boothby and Pierluca Amato sadly absent, leaving a huge opportunity for the midfield runners to take home some serious points.

Qualifying was incredibly close, with Kostiantyn Romanenko securing his maiden pole of the season, under a tenth ahead of Mattia Vacca. It was domination from Ballas Esports as they put all of their five drivers into the top five spots.

 

The race start was clean from all. Marcello Bonaccorsi briefly took second place from Mattia Vacca through turn one, until the Bentley reclaimed his position down the inside of turn two.

The Ukranian driver made his first mistake on the second lap of the race after momentarily losing his rear end through turn two, allowing a golden opportunity for Mattia Vacca to take the race lead.

 

It did not take long for a second mistake. On lap four heading into turn 12, Romanenko jumped onto the brakes far too early, allowing Bonaccorsi and Cattaneo through. Whether the Ukrainian intended to allow his two teammates through is unknown, but what we do know is that he was now running in fourth place.

 

Mattia Vacca made the first pitstop of the field from second at the end of lap 28. Behind him, the Mercedes of Dario Barzaghi was still searching for a way through on Romanenko.

 

More disaster came for Romanenko on lap 33, when an issue with his sim forced him to stop on the side of the track momentarily as he fixed his issue. The Ukrainian lost about eight seconds and dropped two positions and down to sixth.

 

There was some good news for Romanenko when he passed Simone Vacirca for fifth on lap 45.

 

The battle for second was incredible with Alessio Cattaneo searching for a way past Mattia Vacca. His best opportunity came on lap 67, with just two minutes left in the race, when Cattaneo braked incredibly late into turn 2 on the outside of his Ballas teammate. The duo made contact through the high-speed turn three, which almost saw the pair spin. Following the contact, Mattia Vacca acknowledged his error as he pulled to one side, allowing his teammate to pass.

 

The chequered flag came down after 68 laps of racing with Marcello Bonaccorsi taking his maiden Sprint Series win ahead of Alessio Cattaneo and Mattia Vacca.

Championship Standings

After 3 rounds of action, Hosseini continues to lead the championship, but his lead had been brought down to just 4 points ahead of Cattaneo, with Bonaccorsi a further two points.