Leonardo Fornaroli scored his first-ever Feature Race win in Formula 2 at the Hungaroring, finishing ahead of Invicta Racing teammate Roman Stanek in a commanding one-two. Despite a pit lane penalty to account for, the championship leader built enough of a cushion to keep the win and strengthen his title lead heading into the summer break.
Jak Crawford came home third for DAMS Lucas Oil after a tense battle behind the Invicta pair, while tyre strategy and Virtual Safety Car timing shaped much of the midfield order.
Rolling start, steady openers
With sections of the track still damp off-line, the field took a rolling start. Stanek led from pole, followed by Fornaroli and Crawford. The lead group kept it clean as grip levels gradually improved.
Crawford’s early pace dropped off slightly and Browning closed in on Lap 4. The Hitech driver attempted a move but ran wide at Turn 2, handing the place back.
A Virtual Safety Car was called on Lap 6 after Amaury Cordeel stopped his Rodin Motorsport car at the side of the track.
Lindblad on the move, Martí loses out
Racing resumed on Lap 8 and Arvid Lindblad quickly made progress. Starting on Medium tyres, the Campos rookie jumped into the top five with a pair of early overtakes.
Teammate Josep María Martí had a tougher time. He fell behind Minì and Verschoor during the restart phase and dropped back to P11.
Victor Martins then retired from the race, pulling off near Turn 12. The second VSC of the race was called soon after. On the restart, Goethe ran wide while trying to pass Lindblad, losing track position to both Duerksen and Dunne.
Dunne then made a bold move into Turn 2 to take P6 from Duerksen, locking up slightly but completing the pass.
Undercut vs. overcut: Fornaroli makes it count
Campos advised Lindblad that the Prime tyre was performing better by Lap 13. Martí backed that up by overtaking Minì and Verschoor before getting past Goethe as well.
Browning was the first front-runner to pit on Lap 14. Duerksen, Goethe and Minì followed. Stanek and Crawford boxed a lap later, while Fornaroli and Dunne extended their Soft stints.
That gave Fornaroli just enough margin to make the overcut work. He rejoined ahead of Stanek and became the net race leader.
Fornaroli pushes clear under pressure
Lindblad inherited the lead for several laps as the Medium starters continued. Verschoor was the first from that group to pit on Lap 22 and gained time on fresh tyres. Lindblad and Martí stopped shortly after but lost out during their out-laps.
Back at the front, Fornaroli was hit with a five-second time penalty for pit lane speeding. That left Stanek and Crawford within striking distance — but Crawford locked up during an attempted move on Lap 28 and fell back behind the Invicta cars.
Fornaroli responded by upping the pace. By Lap 29, his gap to Stanek was just under five seconds. By the final lap, it was more than seven.
Miyata pitted late from the alternate strategy group, promoting Stanek and Crawford into the final podium places.
Top 10 results
- 1st Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing)
- 2nd Roman Stanek (Invicta Racing)
- 3rd Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil)
- 4th Luke Browning (Hitech TGR)
- 5th Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport)
- 6th Arvid Lindblad (Campos Racing)
- 7th Dino Beganovic (Hitech TGR)
- 8th Oliver Goethe (MP Motorsport)
- 9th Alexander Dunne (Rodin Motorsport)
- 10th Josep María Martí (Campos Racing)
Fornaroli: “Had to push with that penalty”
“What a race today. Finally, we managed to take a win in the Feature Race. It was a really stressful race especially at the end with the five second penalty. I had to stay in front by more than five seconds otherwise I was losing the win. But in the end, we didn’t have a Safety Car. Super happy about this race, now we go into the summer break, so some rest, but then we will be back for Monza.”
Standings: Fornaroli builds a gap
Fornaroli leads the title fight with 154 points. Crawford climbs to second on 137, while Verschoor drops to third. Browning and Dunne remain close behind with just one point separating them.
Drivers’ Championship – Top 5
- Leonardo Fornaroli – 154 pts
- Jak Crawford – 137 pts
- Richard Verschoor – 135 pts
- Luke Browning – 125 pts
- Alexander Dunne – 124 pts
Teams’ Championship – Top 5
- Invicta Racing – 231 pts
- Campos Racing – 189 pts
- Hitech TGR – 183 pts
- DAMS Lucas Oil – 163 pts
- MP Motorsport – 158 pts
Next stop: Monza, September 5–7
F2 now enters the summer break, with the final European round up next at Monza. Fornaroli will arrive with back-to-back Feature Race wins, but the chasing pack is still in touch as the title fight ramps up.