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F3 - Race meeting in Hungary: Nick Cassidy wants his first win

21.04.16
Three weeks after the season kick-off at Le Castellet, Southern France, the FIA Formula 3 European Championship teams and drivers now travel to Hungary to contest the fourth, fifth and sixth race of the season at the 4.381-kilometre long Hungaroring.
F3, Hungaroring, Nick Cassidy

At the Hungarian GP circuit located not far from the country’s capital, Budapest, championship leader Nick Cassidy (Prema Powerteam) wants to secure his first race win of the season. 

Nick Cassidy made a good start into the new FIA Formula 3 European Championship season by making it to the second step of the podium in all three races contested at the Circuit Paul Ricard and leaving France with a 19-point lead over Lance Stroll (Prema Powerteam) and Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam) who are tied for second place. But other than Cassidy, his two team-mates succeeded in securing a race win each. On the other hand, they both also had to cope with an early retirement.

The third winner on the Paul Ricard weekend was Callum Ilott (Van Amersfoort Racing). The Briton who made his FIA Formula 3 European Championship debut in 2015 after having advanced to the planet’s most competitive young-gun series straight from karting celebrated his first race win in single-seater racing in the second round of the meeting but failed to score in the third. He currently holds fourth position in the drivers’ championship.

But the established drivers weren’t the only ones to shine in the season kick-off. This year’s rookies also succeeded in attracting attention. Joel Eriksson (Motopark) and Guanyu Zhou (Motopark) who both advanced to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship as vice-champions in an FIA Formula 4 series already clinched their first podiums. The Swede Eriksson currently holds the lead in the rookie standings, with his Chinese team-mate following in second position.

For the FIA Formula 3 European Championship it will be the second stop at the Hungaroring since its revival in 2013. In 2014, the series’ first appearance in Hungary, Esteban Ocon won two of the three races and Tom Blomqvist prevailed in the third. Both succeeded in working their way up the ladder of professional motor racing, afterwards, and currently are racing in DTM. Furthermore, Frenchman Ocon was signed as test driver by the Renault F1 Team.

Nick Cassidy (Prema Powerteam): “I know the Hungarian track already as I contested a race meeting with Formula Renault 2.0, there. But I don’t believe that this will be an advantage for me as we had a day of testing, prior to the race meeting. In the run-up to the Budapest weekend I stayed in Europe for a week and I think that will be good for me. On the other hand, I could see at Le Castellet that the travelling stress due to my involvements in the Japanese GT series and the FIA Formula 3 European Championship does not have a big impact on my performance. The fact that I currently hold a 19-point lead in the championship does not mean a lot. It’s nice but there are still 27 races to go and so, anything can happen. My goal for Hungary: to win races. That’s only logical if you finished runner-up in all three rounds of the season kick-off, isn’t it?