Nikita Bedrin made a crucial overtake on polesitter Dino Beganovic on the opening lap and controlled the pace to claim the win in Formula 3’s Sprint race in Hungary.
Bedrin survived a close call with Beganovic later in the action to head home an AIX Racing 1-2 result as Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak edged Beganovic to second place.
The initial race start was aborted as Joseph Loake was out of position on the starting grid, meaning there was no choice but to allocate an additional formation tour.
However, once proceedings commenced, polesitter Beganovic executed an excellent launch to cover the inside line into Turn 1 to preserve his advantage over Bedrin.
But that wasn’t the end of the battle on the opening lap as Bedrin continued to hassle Beganovic and sneaked through on the outside at Turn 2 to secure the position.
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak retained third place in the second AIX Racing car behind the top two, while Callum Voisin maintained fourth place in his Rodin Motorsport.
Matias Zagazeta caused chaos as the grid negotiated the middle sector as contact exiting the Turn 6/7 chicane saw him incur suspension damage on his Jenzer car.
Tim Tramnitz was in a rush to make advances on the leading group and he replicated Bedrin’s opening lap pass next time round to overtake Christian Mansell for fifth.
Tramnitz’s move came at the optimal moment as a Virtual Safety Car was then called to recover Zagazeta’s stranded car, with Bedrin holding the lead over Beganovic.
The race returned to green flag conditions on Lap 3, but Santiago Ramos would not be making more inroads as he reported to his Trident side that he had a puncture.
Meanwhile, Nikola Tsolov, who has two Sprint race victories to his name this campaign, headed into the pits, while Luke Browning moved past Oliver Goethe for 10th.
Beganovic appeared to have more speed than Bedrin at this point and was putting his rival under pressure, as Voisin made Inthraphuvasak cover the inside at Turn 4.
Voisin came close to making contact with Inthraphuvasak on Lap 6 when he sensed a potential chance to take a move and had a look on the inside going into Turn 2.
The Briton in the Rodin Motorsport car was becoming agitated behind Inthraphuvasak and was darting across the track as he sought an avenue to rise up into fourth.
Mansell tried a late lunge on Tramnitz into Turn 1 but locked up and ceded the spot. Browning’s rise continued as he cut back underneath Sami Meguetounif at Turn 1.
Beganovic had been courting Bedrin since being overtaken on the opening lap and he attempted a dive into Turn 2 which prompted the leading contenders to go wide.
But although Bedrin retained the lead amid his near miss with the Prema, Beganovic losing control under braking provided Inthraphuvasak second position on Lap 10.
Behind the leading three, Tramnitz saw a chance to make up spots as the drivers ahead were compromised and Voisin ended up cutting across the chicane at Turn 6.
However, Voisin would give up the position on the start-finish straight on Lap 11 to propel the Red Bull-liveried MP Motorsport car into fourth place behind Beganovic.
Mansell was again getting his elbows out on the brakes at Turn 1, but on this occasion, he got his ART car slowed down to reach the apex and demote Voisin to sixth.
The Australian driver tried another ambitious overtaking manoeuvre at the opening corner; however, he overshot his braking and Tramnitz was able to maintain fourth.
Voisin got wide at Turn 11 on Lap 15 and that handed the emphasis to Leonardo Fornaroli to make a move, but the Briton retained the inside line at both Turn 1 and 2.
Bedrin had been unable to break the tow throughout the entire race, but the Italian racer was unperturbed despite intense pressure to lead team-mate Inthraphuvasak.
Beganovic rued giving up the lead on the opening lap and then missing his one chance to regain the place as he came home behind the AIX Racing cars in third place.
Tramnitz was fourth in the lead MP Motorsport car, with ART Grand Prix’s Mansell rounding out the top five spots. Voisin was sixth, with Fornaroli settling for seventh.
Browning closed on the championship lead with a three-point haul as he recovered to eighth place, with Laurens Van Hoepen and Meguetounif completing the points.
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