Three contenders remain as title race goes into season finale at Monza
Markus Pommer took a dominant lights-to-flag victory during today’s (Sunday) second Formula Two race at the Hungaroring, finishing ahead of Mathéo Tuscher and Dino Zamparelli to push the championship battle into a season finale at Monza
After technical issues cut short his race yesterday, the 21-year-old powered from pole position to take his third win of the season by a margin of more than 16s, keeping him in contention for the title honours. Kevin Mirocha finished just outside the podium positions in fourth with race one winner Alex Fontana completing the top five at the sun-soaked Budapest circuit.
As the lights went out, Pommer made a great getaway to lead from Tuscher with Zamparelli up into third on the opening lap, with a great move around the outside of Mirocha at Turn 3. Another poor start by Fontana saw the Swiss drop to fifth ahead of Christopher Zanella, Mihai Marinescu and championship leader Luciano Bacheta.
Fontana was all over the back of Mirocha in the battle for fourth during the early stages of the race with the Pole defending fiercely and backing up a train of cars behind.
Bacheta was also having a battle of his own with fellow countryman Daniel McKenzie with McKenzie passing the championship leader around the outside of Turn 2 on lap 13 before Bacheta fought back.
There was no stopping Pommer though with the German consistently lapping in the mid 1:37s to take the chequered flag from Tuscher with the two now the only drivers who can still challenge Bacheta for the title honours.
Zanella finished sixth and now drops out of the title running as does seventh placed Mihai Marinescu. Bacheta, who struggled for pace throughout, managed to hold off McKenzie for eighth position to end a mixed weekend for the title leader with Axcil Jefferies completing the top 10.
Speaking afterwards Pommer said: "That was an amazing race! The start wasn’t perfect but it was ok and after two or three laps the car just felt amazing and so stable. After that I just drove like a machine and didn’t look in my mirrors or at my lap times and just kept pushing. It certainly makes up for what happened yesterday."
The final F2 rounds take place on 28-30 September in Monza with full coverage on the official championship website.
F2 Results: Hungaroring – Race 2:
1. Markus Pommer, 22 laps
2. Mathéo Tuscher, +16.227s
3. Dino Zamparelli, +18.811s
4. Kevin Mirocha, +28.927s
5. Alex Fontana, +31.243s
6. Christopher Zanella, +32.898s
7. Mihai Marinescu, +34.933s
8. Luciano Bacheta, +36.608s
9. Daniel McKenzie, +37.515s
10. Axcil Jefferies, +39.392s
11. David Zhu, +53.573s
12. Richard Gonda, +56.481s
13. Plamen Kralev, +1:00.353s
14. Hector Hurst, +1:01.019s
15. Max Snegirev, +1:39.092s
F2 Drivers standings: After Rd 14:
1. Luciano Bacheta, 208.5pts
2. Matheo Tuscher, 175pts
3. Markus Pommer, 165pts
4. Christopher Zanella, 161pts
5. Mihai Marinescu, 141pts
6. Kevin Mirocha, 126.5pts
7. Alex Fontana, 105pts
8. Dino Zamparelli, 94.5pts
9. Daniel McKenzie, 94pts
10. Hector Hurst, 27pts