Hungaroring, 2^nd June 2014 - The good news continued for Indonesia’s Sean Gelael at the Hungaroring when, for the second time in two race weekends, he got himself onto the points scoreboard in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship.

Gelael, as he did last time out in Pau, took a 10^th-place finish on the Hungarian Grand Prix circuit in the opening race of the weekend in his Jagonya Ayam with Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen.

The 17-year-old was in the frame right from the beginning of the weekend, driving well to 11^th place in the first free practice session, then 10^th in the second. He almost maintained this form in qualifying, where he took 12^th on the grid.

Unfortunately, Sean lost places away from the line and was down in 15^th place as the race settled down, but he soon began making up places and with four laps to go was into the magic points-scoring positions. From here he held off a challenge from behind to finish 10^th.

“We had a really strong practice and first qualifying, and should have been even further towards the front – I think we should have been ninth on the grid,” he said. “The pace was really good in the race and I was really happy to finish 10^th. My second time in the points, and it shows all the hard work is paying off!”

Some set-up changes to Gelael’s high-tech Dallara-Volkswagen did not pay off for qualifying for races two and three, which he would start from 18^th and 17^th respectively. He was making good progress in the second race, and was up to 14^th when he spun at the chicane. A penalty for exceeding track limits, whereby he had to drive slowly through the pits, dropped him down to finish 21^st.

In race three Sean was up to 15^th when rival Mitch Gilbert, who was just ahead, became the latest driver to get a penalty for exceeding track limits. Once the Australian was out of the way Gelael, now 14^th, stormed onto the back of the group in front, which was battling for ninth. He had just passed Dutchman Dennis van de Laar for 13^th when the race was halted early for safety reasons as rain had started to fall with the field on slick tyres.

“In qualifying for these two races I got bad traffic and did not get into a rhythm,” said Sean. “Also we did not go in the right direction with a set-up change.

“In the second race I had a good first lap but ran a bit wide while trying to push, got onto the grass and spun, so that was not a good race.

“I had a good start in the final race but it was so hard to overtake. I was going left-right-left-right trying to pass Mitch, and when he got his penalty he slowed right down and that left me with a two-second gap to the cars in front. I caught them up really quickly, and then it started raining so that became really interesting! I was able to get past one car and I am pretty confident we had the speed to challenge for the top 10, but it just did not happen because the race ended early.”

Still, Gelael is now becoming a regular fixture in the points, and is looking forward to the next round: a trip to the hallowed Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium on 20^th-22^nd June. “We showed our pace in Hungary, our heads are up and hopefully at Spa we can do a good job,” he concluded.

For the third time in four race weekends, Jagonya Ayam with Carlin’s Tom Blomqvist was a race winner at the Hungaroring, leading from start to finish in the first race after a fantastic start. He took fourth and fifth in the other two races to maintain his second position in the championship.

The team’s Antonio Giovinazzi also scored strong points once again, the Italian claiming a fourth and a fifth over the weekend to maintain his sixth position in the standings. (ms/arl)