Pål Varhaug won a thrilling Race 2 in Budapest in front of 52.000 people: the Norwegian driver of Virtuosi UK delighted the Hungarian crowd crossing the line with a gap of just 0.8 on Adrian Quaife-Hobbs after an hard-fought race that saw the two run nose-to-tail right from the very first lap.

At the start it was Giuseppe Cipriani who took the lead, making the most of a bad start from both reverse poleman Antonio Spavone and Chris Van der Drift: the Italian had too much wheelspin, while the Dutchman of Manor MP was quick off the line but was then hampered by his engine entering in “safety mode” due tue high temperatures.

With Van der Drift dropping down the order (the same happened to Regalia), Cipriani took the lead ahead of Giancarlo Serenelli, Quaife-Hobbs, Varhaug, Spavone, Victor Guerin and Michele La Rosa.

Cipriani managed to stretch his gap on the followers to 2” by lap 2, but a crash by Michele La Rosa brought the Safety-Car in at the end of the lap, erasing his lead.

When the race was restarted two laps later, Varhaug and Quaife-Hobbs immediately overtook Serenelli and then stuck themselves to Cipriani’s gearbox: the Italian driver of Campos Racing managed to keep his rivals at bay for another three laps but at the end of lap 7 Varhaug passed him at Turn 11 with a good outside move, while Quaife-Hobbs did the same getting a better exit at the last corner and then passing him on the inside of Turn 1

. From then on, the fight for the win was really hot and the gap between the pair never reached the 1” mark: Adrian pitted earlier than Varhaug on lap 13, hoping to pass him with a very quick out-lap, but Pål’s pace was quick and when he did his tyre change the Vitruosi UK crew did a very good job. He managed to exit the pits in front of the SuperNova car and then despite being on cold tires he fended off some attacks from Quaife-Hobbs.

The last thrilling moment came on the penultimate lap when Varhaug made a mistake going wide at the last corner: Quaife-Hobbs immediately tried to make the most of it but Pål used the Overboost he had left to maintain the lead until the checkered flag.

Third place went to Sergey Sirotkin after a masterly drive that brought him to a podium finish from P13 on the starting grid. The Russian driver of Euronova had a good start but then got stuck into traffic and ended the first lap in 11th place. On the following lap he passed both Van der Drift and de Jong on track, and then relied on a really good pace to make up ground as his competitors where doing their pit stops, boasting another impressive performance.

Sten Pentus finished in fourth place after a great recovery from P9, ahead of Chris Van der Drift who managed to fight back after his unlucky start.

Early leader Cipriani finished 6th in his best Auto GP weekend ever, ahead of Sergio Campana and Antonio Spavone, again in the points. Serenelli and Regalia closed the top ten, with Max Snegirev finishing just out of it in P11.

Budapest, Race 2 Result

1 Pal VARHAUG Virtuosi UK, 19 laps in 32:02.890, avg. 155.76
2 Adrian QUAIFE-HOBBS Supernova International +0.789
3 Sergey SIROTKIN Euronova Racing +2.765
4 Sten PENTUS Zele Racing +10.524
5 Chris VAN DER DRIFT Manor MP Motorsport +21.195
6 Giuseppe CIPRIANI Campos Racing +25.445
7 Sergio CAMPANA MLR 71 +25.903
8 Antonio SPAVONE Euronova Racing +26.511
9 Giancarlo SERENELLI Ombra Racing +31.302
10 Facu REGALIA Campos Racing +31.759
11 Max SNEGIREV Campos Racing +34.627
12 Daniel DE JONG Manor MP Motorsport +36.656
13 Adderley FONG Ombra Racing +36.942
14 Francesco DRACONE Virtuosi UK +41.504

NC Victor GUERIN Supernova International
NC Michele LA ROSA MLR 71

Fastest Lap: Lap 10 by Adrian QUAIFE-HOBBS, 1:34.904, avg 166.18 kph

Weekend Prize Money Classification:

1. Quaife-Hobbs 20.000 € (43 points);
2. Varhaug 10.000 € (30 points);
3. Guerin 5.000 € (18 points).

Drivers Standings:

1. Quaife-Hobbs 148;
2. Varhaug 105;
3. Sirotkin 88;
4. Van der Drift 83;
5. Regalia 52;
6. De Jong and Campana 43;
8. Guerin 34;
9. Ricci 30;
10. Spavone 25;
11. Snegirev 22;
12. Serenelli 19;
13. Cipriani 17;
14. Pentus 14;
15. Cunha 8;
16. Dracone 5;
17. Fong 4.

Under 21 Standings:

1. Quaife-Hobbs 163;
2. Sirotkin 118;
3. Varhaug 117;
4. Regalia 74;
5. Spavone 62;
6. De Jong 55;
7. Guerin 54;
8. Cunha 24;
9. Beretta

Teams Standings:

1. SuperNova International 182;
2. Manor MP 126;
3. Euronova 113;
4. Virtuosi UK 111;
5. Campos Racing 90;
6. MLR71 43;
7. Zele Racing 42;
8. Ombra Racing 31.

All Photos Auto GP.

Pål Varhaug.



Adrian Quaife-Hobbs.



Sergey Sirotkin.



Sten Pentus.



Chris Van der Drift.



Giuseppe Cipriani.



Sergio Campana.



Antonio Spavone.



Giancarlo Serenelli.



Francesco Dracone.



The start.



Close racing...



...through the field.



Race 2 podium.