Hungaroring FR3.5: Late heartbreak for Kevin Magnussen hands Antonio Felix da Costa maiden win
Antonio Felix da Costa took his and Arden Caterham's maiden Formula Renault 3.5 victory after race-long leader Kevin Magnussen broke down on the final lap
Magnussen and da Costa had led the way from the beginning, when they both capitalised on poleman and championship leader Robin Frijns bogging down as the lights went out.
Red Bull junior da Costa could do nothing about the Carlin car in the lead though, and Magnussen had the gap up to almost seven seconds by the time both had completed their mandatory stops on lap 13.
But from there da Costa was able to chip away at the leader, and with a handful of laps to go smoke started appearing from the right-rear of Magnussen's car.
The Dane appeared to be doing enough to hold onto the lead, going into the final lap still 3.5 seconds clear. That was down to three seconds by the first split, and then Magnussen's car ground to a halt at Turn 5 with a gearbox issue.
That gave da Costa, , the lead with just over half a lap remaining.
Behind the winner, Marco Sorensen took advantage of making a late pitstop to jump from fifth to third, which became second when Magnussen retired.
One Carlin driver's pain was another's gain though, as Will Stevens inherited third to take his first podium in the series.
Stevens had run third in the opening stint after working his way from sixth on the grid at the start, but he had been no match for Sorensen when the Dane had clear track.
Sam Bird was another to make up places at the start, and after a race spent defending his position from Arthur Pic and title rival Frijns, he came home fourth.
Frijns took fifth, capitalising on an error from Pic on the exit of Turn 2 to pull off a spectacular pass around the outside of Turn 4. He had already passed the Frenchman earlier in the race, but lost the position during the pitstops.
The Dutchman's recovery was eventful all the way through, particularly when he locked wheels with Kevin Korjus after the Estonian exited the pits between him and Pic.
Frijns went down the inside at Turn 2, but as the cars became stuck together they ran wide. Alexander Rossi tried to capitalise, but in the madness ended up on the grass approaching Turn 3.
Results - 30 laps: Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Antonio Felix da Costa Arden Caterham 46m24.229s 2. Marco Sorensen Lotus + 3.666s 3. Will Stevens Carlin + 10.533s 4. Sam Bird ISR + 19.784s 5. Robin Frijns Fortec + 20.343s 6. Arthur Pic DAMS + 22.789s 7. Kevin Korjus Lotus + 24.557s 8. Alexander Rossi Arden Caterham + 25.624s 9. Jules Bianchi Tech 1 + 31.183s 10. Walter Grubmuller P1 + 33.414s 11. Tamas Pal Kiss BVM Target + 36.422s 12. Carlos Huertas Fortec + 37.826s 13. Lucas Foresti DAMS + 49.452s 14. Nikolay Martsenko BVM Target + 49.998s 15. Daniil Move P1 + 59.931s 16. Zoel Amberg Pons + 1m04.779s 17. Vittorio Ghirelli Comtec + 1m09.389s 18. Aaro Vainio RFR + 1m11.082s 19. Mikhail Aleshin RFR + 1m11.605p 20. Nick Yelloly Comtec + 1m13.714s 21. Yann Cunha Pons + 1m15.356s 22. Jake Rosenzweig ISR + 1m22.784s 23. Kevin Magnussen Carlin + 1 lap 24. Daniel Abt Tech 1 + 2 laps Retirements: Nico Muller Draco 9 laps Andre Negrao Draco 1 lap
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