VRD Racing's championship leader Nikita Bedrin claimed his fourth win of the season in the second GB3 Championship race of the weekend at the Hungaroring on Sunday morning.
The 20-year-old started from pole, but was beaten off the line by race one winner Deagen Fairclough. Bedrin retook the lead at turn two and controlled the race from there, while Fairclough was forced into retirement seconds later, leaving Bedrin clear despite a couple of safety car restarts. He pulled away in the second half of the race to win by two seconds.
Local contender Martin Molnar claimed his fourth podium of the season in front of his home crowd, with Xcel's Lucas Fluxa rising from sixth to third for his second podium of the season.
As in yesterday's race, Fairclough made a great getaway from second on the grid, and again chose the inside line for turn one, with Bedrin locking his brakes as the duo battled. Behind, there was contact between Xcel's Rowan Campbell-Pilling and Hillspeed's Peter Bouzinelos, with both cars parked on the apex of turn one.
Bedrin reclaimed the lead with a move around the outside of turn two, and just as the safety car was called for the turn one incident, Fairclough stopped on the approach to the penultimate corner.
With cars now stranded in two separate locations, racing resumed after six minutes behind the safety car, only for the race to be neutralised briefly almost immediately after a fault with the circuit's LED flag system.
With 14 minutes remaining, racing resumed, and Bedrin set about building a lead. His cause was aided by a battle for second, with Budapest resident Molnar having to fend off the attentions of championship-chasing teammate Maxim Rehm, who had climbed to third from fifth on the grid.
Rehm was able to make the move for second at turn one with eight minutes to go, but then hit trouble of his own midway through the lap, dropping him back behind Molnar and Fluxa who moved up to the podium, with Rehm stopping moments later.
That all played into the favour of Bedrin, who extended his championship lead further, finishing 2.042s ahead of Molnar, who crossed the line to a heroes reception from the home crowd at the end of the contest.
Fluxa's podium was his second of the year so far, solidifying his fourth place in the current standings.
The third Rodin of Abbi Pulling claimed fourth place as she recovered from her race one shunt yesterday, while Elite's Kyuho Lee followed up his sixth from race one with fifth in race two.
Hillspeed's Dante Vinci took his best result of the year with sixth ahead of VRD's Patricio Gonzalez, who climbed from 16th to seventh.
Vinci's teammate Aurelia Nobels was another to earn a GB3-best result in eighth ahead of the third VRD of Rodrigo Gonzalez, with Elite's Flynn Jackes completing the podium. Post-race, Rodrigo Gonzalez was handed a one place penalty for overtaking when the safety car panels were still lit.
The third race of the weekend, featuring the top-12 reverse grid, is due to start at 18.10 local time.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Hungaroring Race Two provisional result:
1. Nikita Bedrin, VRD Racing, 14 laps
2. Martin Molnar, Rodin Motorsport, +2.042s
3. Lucas Fluxa, Xcel Motorsport, +4.636s
4. Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport, +6.167s
5. Kyuho Lee, Elite Motorsport, +11.499s
6. Dante Vinci, Hillspeed, +12.576s
7. Patricio Gonzalez, VRD Racing, +12.837s
8. Aurelia Nobels, Hillspeed, +15.090s
9. Flynn Jackes, Elite Motorsport, +18.355s
10. Rodrigo Gonzalez, VRD Racing, penalty
11. Yuhao Fu, Hitech, +18.629s
12. Ricardo Baptista, Xcel Motorsport, +23.177s
13. Lewis Gilbert, Arden Motorsport, +24.075s
14. Jacob Micallef, Hitech, +26.238s
15. Leon Wilson, Arden Motorsport, +29.301s
DNF. Maxim Rehm, Rodin Motorsport, 9 laps
DNF. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech, 0 laps
DNF. Peter Bouzinelos, Hillspeed, 0 laps
DNF. Rowan Campbell-Pilling, Xcel Motorsport, 0 laps