Red Bull Junior Daniel Ricciardo kept up the pressure on World Series by Renault Formula 3.5 championship leader Mikhail Aleshin by winning in commanding style in Budapest, Hungary.
In the first of the weekend's two races at the Hungaroring, the Australian driver put his Renault-Dallara onto pole position at the Hungaroring – his fifth pole of the year so far and he led from start to finish to claim his second victory of the season.
And fellow Red Bull Junior, Brendon Hartley, narrowly missed out on a podium spot as he finished in fourth position, less than two seconds behind third placed Sten Pentus, with Aleshin in second.
Ricciardo enjoyed a fast start and consolidated his pole position from the outset, followed by Aleshin and Pentus, who was able to overtake Hartley.
Subsequently Ricciardo pulled away, running one second per lap quicker on average than his closest pursuers and four seconds after four laps, but his lead was interrupted by the safety car, which had to take to the track on lap five.
Ricciardo remained dominant and convincing after the restart, extending his lead immediately and the Australian was the only driver who was able to continuously set lap times below the one minute 36 second mark.
Aleshin stayed in second, ahead of Sten Pentus and Brendon Hartley, who on his part was putting pressure on Pentus. The New Zealander was eager to get back his third place from qualifying, but overtaking at the Budapest circuit proved difficult.
Ricciardo went on to secure the win by almost 14 seconds and was delighted with the victory and with reducing the gap at the top of the championship standings between himself and Aleshin, which now stands at nine points.
“I already felt it in today’s qualifying," Ricciardo said. "Things are just going perfectly fine here, the car was great, and I had everything under control all the time. Thanks to my team. Now I’ve drawn closer to Aleshin once again."
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