GP3: Albon takes championship lead with victory

Alexander Albon won the second GP3 race at the Hungaroring to seize the championship lead from his ART teammate Charles Leclerc.

Albon secured his third win of the season ahead of Jenzer Motorsport's Arjun Maini, with Leclerc completing the podium in a processional race that featured little tire degradation.

At the start, Albon reacted better than reverse grid polesitter Maini off the line and the Anglo-Thai driver sealed the lead on the run down to Turn 1. But as the leaders exited the corner the safety car was swiftly deployed as Akash Nandy had an enormous accident at the rear of the field.

The Jenzer Motorsport driver was clipped by ART's McLaren junior Nyck de Vries on the approach to Turn 1, which sent him into the inside barrier and into a series of barrel rolls before his car came to rest upside down. Nandy walked away from the incident but the safety car remained out for four laps as the marshals cleared away the debris.

Just before the race resumed, Ralph Böschung tagged Leclerc as they followed Albon and Maini through the penultimate corner, which resulted in a drive-through penalty for the Koiranen GP driver.

Up front, Albon pulled clear of Maini and, although the Indian driver closed in approaching the halfway point, the leader opened up the gap in the closing stages to win by 3.3 seconds, despite nearly running off the track at Turn 8 on the final lap.

Ferrari Formula 1 junior Leclerc pushed Maini hard for second until he locked up at Turn 13 toward the end of the race and lost ground, dropping back and settling for the final podium spot.

Jack Aitken claimed his best finish in GP3 with fourth Arden, ahead of ART's Nirei Fukuzumi and race one winner Matthew Parry of Koiranen.

Jake Dennis and Matevos Isaakyan came home seventh and eighth, with DAMS' Kevin Joerg and Trident's Ferrari F1 junior Antonio Fuoco completing the top 10.

De Vries, who had claimed pole position for yesterday's feature race only to stall on the formation lap, rose from P20 on the grid to 13th by the finish after a series of brave moves and opportunistic overtakes.

Albon now leads Leclerc by three points in the championship.

Originally on Autosport.com