Returning to a circuit he appreciates, Théo Pourchaire had to put pressure on the championship leader. Starting alongside Frederik Vesti on the grid for both of the weekend’s races, the battle promised to be exciting.
At the Hungaroring circuit, the scene of his first appearance in Formula 1 last year, Théo Pourchaire arrived full of confidence. Getting off to a good start in the sprint race, the Frenchman overtook two drivers. Both aggressive and opportunistic, he momentarily took 3rd place before yielding towards the end of the race. He crossed the line in 4th position. A good result considering the ninth place of his main championship rival. Thus, Théo Pourchaire is now just one point behind Frederik Vesti before the feature race.
This morning for the feature race, the driver from Grasse started from 4th position, just behind the Dane. With a start similar to his competitors, the Frenchman tried to make a difference at the first braking zone but locked the wheels. Ahead, Vestri overtook Victor Martins for the second place. Each driver attempted to preserve their tires as best as possible.
First among the leaders to pit, Théo Pourchaire tried to alter his strategy to catch up with the race leader. Despite a good stop by his ART GP team, he re-entered battling with a backmarker. After three laps of battling, he managed to get past Amaury Cordwell. The time lost allowed Vesti to stay on the track longer with his soft tires without losing time.
A battle that costs dear
When the leaders made their pit stops, Pourchaire found himself battling with his teammate Victor Martins. The two compatriots spared no niceties, and Théo attempted to overtake in turn 4. With Martins’ tires still cold, he defended his position firmly in a spot where overtaking is difficult, pushing Pourchaire outside track limits. Dirtying his tires, the driver from Grasse struggled and was overtaken a few turns later by Isack Hadjar. Then it was Ayumu Iwasa‘s turn to get past ART No. 5.
A very poor operation for the driver from Grasse, who lost valuable points with an eye on the championship. Especially since Vesti held strong in second position behind Jack Doohan.
At the end of 37 laps, Théo Pourchaire finished in 6th place and lost 10 points to Frederik Vesti. He also saw Japanese Iwasa close to within 10 points in the third place of the championship.
A misstep he will need to correct next weekend in Belgium before the summer break.
