The two Campos Racing drivers overcame a challenging qualifying session to finish in the points positions in Sunday's race. Montoya, starting from even further back, could not achieve the same goal on the Hungarian "Monaco without walls"
Campos Racing added more points in the penultimate round of the FIA Formula 3 season held this past weekend at the Hungaroring. Both Oliver Goethe and Mari Boya drove their Campos Racing cars into the top ten in a comeback race as soon as the lights went out. In the end, both the German-Dane and the Spaniard achieved their goals. Sebas Montoya had less luck, as the Colombian started from even further back and could not recover enough positions to finish in the points.
On Friday, in the only practice session held early in the morning, Boya set the fastest time with a 1m34.236s, leading the standings by nearly two-tenths over his closest rival. Montoya was sixth with a best time of 1m34.758s, while Goethe was thirteenth with a best lap of 1m35.078s. In the afternoon qualifying session, with thirty cars on track, it was as complicated as expected due to traffic. To make matters worse, a red flag disrupted the final attempts of the Campos Racing drivers. As a result, Goethe was the best-qualified driver on the grid with a 1m34.938s, putting him 14th. Further back, Boya was 19th with a time of 1m35.105s, and Montoya finished 29th.
During Saturday’s 18-lap sprint race, the action was frantic as soon as the lights went out. On the first lap, Boya had a contact with Matías Zagazeta, but the Spaniard continued the race. After the Virtual Safety Car due to those early incidents, the race resumed on lap three with Goethe in 11th place while Boya and Montoya were 18th and 19th. With the drivers trying not to overwork their tires, the race developed in a pack with little change in the standings. In the end, Goethe finished 11th, Boya 18th, just ahead of Montoya.
On Sunday, in the 23-lap feature race, despite a few drops of rain during the warm-up lap, the race was run in dry conditions. After the first lap, Goethe was already 11th, and Boya had climbed to 14th. Goethe overtook Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak on lap three, moving into the points, while Boya continued his climb, passing Luke Browning. Boya then set his sights on Gabriele Minì, while Goethe targeted Dino Beganovic. On lap 13, Goethe overtook the Swede and moved into ninth. Boya gained another position at Inthraphuvasak’s expense and later passed Minì. Two laps from the end, a safety car was deployed due to an incident, with Goethe and Boya finishing eighth and tenth respectively. Montoya ended in 19th place.
In the overall standings, Goethe is seventh in the drivers' championship with 89 points, while Campos Racing is fourth in the teams' championship with 146 points.
The championship moves to Spa-Francorchamps next weekend for the penultimate round of the season just before the summer break.
Photos: © Dutch Photo Agency
