Christian Mansell scored a great haul of points with a pair of top-five results in the latest FIA Formula 3 Championship meeting at the Hungaroring last weekend (20/21 July).
The Australian from Newcastle, New South Wales, entered the eighth meeting of the current FIA F3 season lying seventh in the Drivers' Championship, during what has proven to be a very competitive second campaign for him in the F1-supporting series.
Scorching summer temperatures greeted the four-time podium finisher at the 2.722-mile track from Friday, as Mansell ticked off free practice in the morning and ventured into the crucial qualifying session later that afternoon with high hopes.
Backed by AJM Transport, Castrol, Vawdrey Trailers, Sargeant Transport and Ultimate Driving Tours, Mansell survived an early moment to emerge as a real threat for a second pole position of his season, setting purple sectors on his late run.
He was ultimately very unlucky as not only did a first-gear issue mean the ART GP car struggled to start in the pits following a switch to fresher tyres, but he was further denied an improvement by a red flag - bringing the session to a premature end with Mansell eighth in the final classification.
A new day dawned on Saturday, hosting the 18-lap Sprint Race to open the weekend's headline action. From fifth place on grid, the Aussie lost out to Tim Tranmitz in the early stages but after a brief Virtual Safety Car stabilised the field, he began to attack back and sent a lunge up the inside into the first corner – however he ran slightly too wide to complete the move.
Mansell made a similar bold drive under braking stick soon after to pick off the Rodin car of Callum Voisin, before setting off after Tranmitz once again. He almost successfully repeated the move into turn one, but ran slightly deep again, leaving him fifth at the chequered flag.
The Rush Performance, Infinity Sports Management, IOR Petroleum, AMSL Diabetes Australia and NTI-backed star looked ahead to Sunday, starting from eighth for the 24-lap Feature Race.
A rocket start propelled the ART driver into the mix early on and he soon began to attack Santiago Ramos for fifth place. Reminiscent of the previous day, Mansell sent his car up the inside of his rival heading into the first corner, snatching fifth spot away on lap four.
The pace was hot up front and Mansell lapped as one of the fastest cars on circuit as he gave chase all the way to the chequered flag. Crossing the line in fifth, a post-race penalty for another driver ensured he was classified fourth, a result that ensured he moves up to fifth in the championship standings.
Christian Mansell: “Qualifying was going well and I believe we would have been on for the pole. Unfortunately, due to the timing of the red flag, plus my car not starting in the pit lane and also not engaging first gear, it meant we were very unlucky not to get the result we wanted. The team gave us a great car this weekend, and it showed in the races.
"We had a big old fight in race one with Tim who got by me early on, but I was faster and felt confident under braking for turn one all weekend. That was important as it's historically hard to pass around a circuit like this anyway. The second race was the same, and that was a good run to get ourselves back into the top five and score more points.
"We're consistent which is good, and now I'm really looking forward to Spa. We got a podium there last year, so I'm hoping we go one better this time!”
Mansell is straight back into action this weekend (27-28 July) as FIA F3 reaches its penultimate round at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
Images from Dutch Photo Agency.
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