F3: Nael wins Budapest Sprint with Ugochukwu and Slater now tied in championship fight

Theophile Nael impressively went from sixth on the grid to the top step at the Budapest Sprint Race.

The Campos Racing driver made an excellent start before making a crucial overtake on Kanato Le to take the lead.

From then on, Nael showed great maturity, and would go on to win by over two and a half seconds.

Le settled for second place – giving him a maiden Formula 3 podium – while Ernesto Rivera made it two Campos cars on the rostrum with a run to third.

MP Motorsport’s Mattia Colnaghi finished fourth for the third consecutive race, ahead of Rodin Motorsport’s Brando Badoer and teammate Tuukka Taponen.

DAMS Lucas Oil driver Nicola Lacorte was seventh, as PREMA Racing’s James Wharton went from P15 to eighth, while Fernando Barrichello climbed up to P9 from P17.

TRIDENT’s Freddie Slater took the final point in P10 – moving up a place once title rival Ugo Ugochukwu’s five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

This leaves the two drivers tied on 104 points going into Sunday’s Feature Race, which is set to start at 0840 local time.

Until then you can read a full report from today’s FIA Formula 3 Feature Race on the official website here.