Mercedes’ Paul di Resta grabbed his first win of the 2017 campaign after profiting from an early pit stop and a mid-race Safety Car phase to rise up the order at the Hungaroring.
Di Resta started only 13th but elected to make his mandatory pit stop during the early stages of the race, along with BMW rivals Timo Glock and Bruno Spengler, who had lined up 14th and 17th on the grid respectively.
Their deficit to the yet-to-pit leaders was eradicated when the Safety Car was deployed due to the presence of Maxime Martin’s stricken BMW at Turn 4.
The trio gradually rose through the order when the rest of the pack made their mandatory stops, with di Resta keeping Glock at bay to take victory by 1.3 seconds.
Audi had held a dominant position during the opening phase of the race, having locked out the leading five grid spots in qualifying, with René Rast capturing his maiden pole.
Rast headed Mattias Ekström, Mike Rockenfeller and Jamie Green, though lost his advantage when Ekström adopted the outside line through Turn 1 at the double-file restart.
Rockenfeller jumped Ekström after the pit stop phase to emerge in fourth and charged up the back of third-placed Spengler, challenging the BMW driver along the main straight on the final lap.
Spengler held firm for his first podium of the year, in front of Rockenfeller, Ekström and Rast, while Green followed his Audi stablemates home in seventh spot.
Gary Paffett secured eighth place, with reigning champion Marco Wittmann profiting from Edoardo Mortara’s misjudged pass on Green to take ninth.
Championship leader Lucas Auer was only 13th after he was spun at Turn 2 at the restart.
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