Mixed fortunes for Carlin in Hungary

01 August 2010

The Carlin GP3 team saw mixed fortunes for its drivers in race two of the weekend at the Hungaroring this morning, as Dean Smith took his first podium finish of the season. Smith's podium was in contrast to Josef Newgarden, who lost a strong second place due to a broken fuel pump and António Félix da Costa who spun on lap one following contact from another car.

With all three Carlin drivers finishing race one in the points yesterday, Newgarden, Smith and da Costa were near the front of the grid for today's reverse race grid - lining up second, third and fourth respectively.

As the lights went out, Newgarden made a stunning start to challenge countryman Alexander Rossi for the lead off the line. Newgarden was forced wide onto the grass, but managed to hold his place although couldn't quite make it past Rossi as the duo led the field into the first corner. Behind him, Smith was under attack from Robert Wickens and dropped to third as Wickens forced his way through at the chicane. Taking part in only his second GP3 start, da Costa found himself swamped as the lights went out. The 18 year-old was quick to fight back but in the chaotic first lap was tapped into a spin and was fortunate not to be collected by the rest of the field. Managing to recover, da Costa rejoined at the back.

At the front, Newgarden was clearly on a charge. The Carlin man set the quickest lap on lap three and again on lap four and remained in touch with race leader Rossi while keeping a good distance to third place man Wickens. Smith meanwhile was running a relatively uneventful race in fourth place, as Stefano Coletti and Esteban Gutierez were involved in a race-long battle for fifth behind him.

The order remained unchanged at the front, with Newgarden looking good for his first podium finish, but fuel pump failure with just three laps to go robbed the American of an almost certain second place. Newgarden's retirement elevated Smith to third and his first podium of the season. Da Costa meanwhile was making the most of his 30 minutes on track to make his way back through the field, passing Daniel Morad for 17th on the final lap.

Speaking about the team's performance in Hungary, Trevor Carlin said, "Today was definitely a race of mixed fortunes for us and although we're delighted to see Dean on the podium, it is hugely disappointing to see Josef lose a second place through no fault of his own. Josef is improving with every race and to see how he handled himself today, even compared to his performance in Hockenheim last weekend just shows the rate at which he is improving. It has been a pleasure to have Antonio in the team this weekend; he has adapted very quickly to the GP3 car and put in a great fighting performance this morning."