Hungaroring

Located near Budapest, the capital of Hungary, the Hungaroring is a short circuit measuring 4.381km per lap. Its layout features many low-speed corners and a low average speed. As overtaking is difficult, qualifying position is particularly important.

Sprint Race: P18 on the grid → P14

The 19-lap Sprint Race started at 10:05am on Saturday 25 July. With overtaking difficult at the circuit, battles developed throughout the field from the opening lap. The top three cars made contact at Turn 2, and two of them stopped at the side of the track, prompting the deployment of the Safety Car (SC).

Starting from 18th on the grid, Taito Kato moved up to 15th amid the incident. Racing resumed on Lap 4, but there were no major changes in position.

The midfield group remained closely bunched as the race continued. Kato stayed within 0.4 to 0.5 seconds of the car ahead while looking for an opportunity to overtake, but was unable to gain another position and took the chequered flag in 15th.

After the race, the driver who had finished tenth received a five-second time penalty, promoting Kato to 14th in the final classification.

©Dutch Photo Agency