Hungaroring GP2 race report

30/07/2013

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With track temperatures approaching 50°C, Jolyon Palmer scorched to his and Comma's maiden GP2 Feature Race victory at the Hungaroring on Saturday, July 27th. In what was the perfect way to bounce back from a frustrating and fruitless weekend at the fabled Nurburgring, Germany earlier in July, Jolyon brought his Comma sponsored car home a commanding 15 seconds clear of Sweden's Marcus Ericsson, with whom he had had to fight a gripping duel before taking the lead on lap 28.

Starting on medium tyres from seventh on the grid, Jolyon made an excellent start to be in third place by the first corner. And it was the Carlin team's tyre strategy that sowed the seeds of Jolyon's eventual success, since he was able to go much deeper into the race after taking the lead on lap nine as other drivers pitted, before having to make his own mandatory pit stop for fresh rubber on lap 17. Tyre-wise, that put him in 'the box seats' for the later stages of the race, and once he had won an absorbing battle with Ericsson, Jolyon was able to stretch away comfortably at the rate of two seconds a lap. In second place, the Swede was just able to hold Jolyon's Carlin team mate, Brazilian Felipe Nasr, at bay by three tenths of a second at the chequered flag.

"This means so much," said Jolyon after the race. "It feels like it's pressure off now I've got the first Feature Race win and hopefully we can build on this. We've had some bad luck in the weekends prior to this so I'm really happy, and hopefully we can get some more wins during the rest of the season."

Sunday's Sprint Race – in which Jolyon started from eighth place due to the 'reverse grid' result of the Feature event – inevitably left Jolyon on the back foot after playing his medium tyre 'joker' the day before. His chances on the less favourable softer compound tyres were not enhanced by an untypically bodged start off the grid, and he was essentially struggling for grip throughout a race where he eventually finished twelfth. Nevertheless, his handsome points haul for the weekend bring him level on seventh place with Ericsson in the GP2 championship points table with four events and eight races still to go.