Hitech shows fighting spirit at the Hungaroring
Round 9 – Budapest – Report
Hitech showed fighting spirit throughout the Budapest weekend as the FIA Formula 2 Championship reached its final event before the summer break.
After a challenging qualifying session left Colton Herta and Ritomo Miyata starting down the order, both drivers fought back across the Sprint and Feature Races, gaining positions and maximising opportunities around the Hungaroring.
Qualifying
Qualifying proved to be a challenging session at the Hungaroring, with tight margins throughout the field.
Colton qualified P18, while Ritomo took P21 ahead of the Sprint Race, leaving both drivers with work to do across the weekend’s two races.
Sprint Race
Starting P18 and P21 respectively, Colton and Ritomo looked to make progress in the 28-lap Sprint Race.
Ritomo made a strong start, gaining positions at Turn 1 and moving ahead of his teammate during the opening laps. Both drivers continued to fight through the midfield in a race where overtaking opportunities were limited.
A late incident at the front of the field brought further changes to the order, promoting both Hitech cars inside the top 15. Ritomo finished P13, with Colton crossing the line in P14.
Feature Race
Both drivers began the 37-lap Feature Race on the soft compound tyre, with just over half of the field adopting the same strategy.
Colton made a strong getaway, gaining five places on the opening lap to move into P13. He continued to run strongly during the opening stint, climbing as high as P12 before the soft tyre began to fade. He made his first stop on Lap 9 after starting to lose ground.
Ritomo made his pit stop on Lap 17, moments before a Virtual Safety Car was deployed to recover a stranded car. Racing resumed by the end of the lap, with Ritomo rejoining in P18 before the leading runners on the alternative strategy began making their own stops.
In the closing stages, Ritomo continued his recovery drive, passing Colton for P14 on Lap 31 before making another move on Bilinski on Lap 35 to finish P13 on track. Colton crossed the line in P15, but a post-race penalty saw him classified P19.
Jan Sumann, Hitech’s F2 Head of Race Engineering:
“Budapest was a weekend where we had to fight for every position. Qualifying left us with a challenge, but both drivers responded well across the two races and showed strong pace when it mattered.”
Jan continued:
“The Sprint Race gave us some opportunities to recover positions, and in the Feature Race we were able to use the strategy to our advantage, especially with Ritomo’s extended opening stint on the soft tyre. Colton also made a strong start and put himself in a good position early on, although the penalty means that his progress is not reflected in the final result.
“There are positives to take from the weekend, but we know there are areas where we need to continue to improve. We’ll use the summer break to analyse the first part of the season and come back stronger for the next round.”
The Budapest weekend brings this long stint of the season to a close, with the FIA Formula 2 Championship now entering the summer break.
Hitech returns to action for Round 10 on 4-6 September at Monza.
