Written by Vyas Ponnuri.
Formula 3's Hungarian sprint saw some lesser-known names in this season filter out to the front, as Nikita Bedrin and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak converted their starts into a 1-2 finish after 18 laps of racing.
Having qualified within the top 12 for the first time in his Formula 3 career, the Thai youngster started third for the sprint race, behind teammate Nikita Bedrin and Prema's Dino Beganovic, who was promoted to sprint race pole after Luke Browning's fastest lap in qualifying was deleted, following his crash late in the session.
As Bedrin and Beganovic battled on lap nine, the Prema driver attempted a fortuitous move down the inside of turn two, instead running wide and onto the run off, promoting Bedrin into the lead, with Inthraphuvasak making it an AIX Racing 1-2.
The top three drivers held on to their positions until the end of the race, with the top two celebrating their maiden podium and victory respectively, and for the second AIX on the road, his first points of the season.
It's not quite been the season of highs for AIX Racing this year. While their Formula 2 counterparts have been qualifying strongly and racing hard to finish on the podium and even win, the Formula 3 outfit hasn't been able to match the lofty highs, often finishing outside the points.
While Bedrin has banked on his year of experience racing for Jenzer Motorsport in 2023, he has been able to score points in the season, taking eighth and ninth in feature races at Albert Park and Silverstone respectively, as well as a ninth in the sprint at Imola.
The previous round at Silverstone proved to be an important one, as AIX Racing and Bedrin rolled the dice, pitting for dry tyres, a move that earned them a couple of points late in the race.
As for rookies Inthraphuvasak and Joshua Dufek, their introductions to Formula 3 haven't petered out to be the finest. Both drivers were yet to score heading into the Hungarian round, with the Thai driver sitting 28th while Dufek sat 30th in the standings.
The closest Inthraphuvasak had gotten to the points was 17th at Monaco, courtesy of an impressive qualifying performance at the track fetching him his best results of 17th and 18th over the weekend.
Although, the sophomore team's fortunes changed around the tight, 14-turn circuit, with Bedrin, Inthraphuvasak, and Dufek going all the way up to a 1-2-3 at the end of the first laps in qualifying, with Dufek leading the way.
By the end of the session, however, it was a different story, with Dufek down in sixth, while Inthraphuvasak ended the session 12th and Bedrin in 13th.
This would've put the Thai driver on reverse grid pole for the sprint. Although, penalties were applied shortly after, to change their fortunes.
As part of a new rule, a driver causing a red flag in the qualifying session would have their fastest lap deleted. This rule saw Luke Browning's lap deleted post-qualifying, while Dufek's car was found to be upto 1.5 kg underweight, which meant he was stripped of his sixth position, and sent to the rear of the grid for both races.
The demotions meant Bedrin and Inthraphuvasak were now starting second and third on the grid, and had a realistic shot at winning the race. A mistake from Beganovic while overtaking Bedrin ahead meant the two AIX drivers headed the field, eventually ending up 1-2 on the road for their first podiums in the series.
Finishing second, Inthraphuvasak spoke on his maiden Formula 3 podium, and the emotions going through his mind as he was fiercely defending from Beganovic and Voisin during the race.
"In the beginning, Callum (Voisin) was pushing a lot. But, in the beginning, it was about managing the tyres, because I knew that the (tyre) degradation was going to be at the end of the race," the AIX racer responded, speaking of his pace early on in the race.
"But yeah, I managed my tyres quite well, and we had pace at the end of the race, so I could stay in front of Dino (Beganovic)," Inthraphuvasak concluded.
A driver's first podium finish is always a special moment, and even more so for a driver like Inthraphuvasak who had not scored points before today.
"Obviously, this moment means a lot. My first podium, first points of the championship. Really happy, and of course this means a lot," Inthraphuvasak responded, on his second place finish in the sprint.
It's a special moment, nonetheless, and starting in the top twelve tomorrow means he has a chance to bring home more points from the feature race.
Sunday's feature race sees Laurens van Hoepen start from pole, ahead of teammate Nikola Tsolov and Trident's Leonardo Fornaroli. The two AIX Racing cars of Bedrin and Inthraphuvasak will line up tenth and eleventh on the grid tomorrow, eyeing yet more points to round off an impressive weekend on a high.
The feature race kicks off at 08:25 track time (07:25 BST), do make sure to tune in and find out how the 30 drivers fare around the Hungaroring's twists and turns!
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