Arthur Pic secured his best result of the 2016 GP2 Series with a strong fifth place at the sixth round of the championship at the Hungaroring in Hungary (July 23-24).
An encouraging performance by the Rapax driver left him seventh on the grid for Saturday’s Feature Race; Pic mastering the newly-resurfaced track to take his best qualifying spot of the year.
Starting on the softer of the two tyre compounds each driver must use, the 2014 Hungaroring winner showed his experience with a number of tenacious moves to climb to fifth early on. He held the place for the remainder of his first stint, before stopping early to make his mandatory switch to hard rubber.
Pic emerged behind his fellow Frenchman Norman Nato but, despite the difficulties of overtaking at the 4.6km circuit, snatched position at Turn 2 with a brilliantly-calculated move to bring him to the finish in fifth.
From fourth on the partially-reversed Sprint Race grid, Pic was hit mid-way around the opening corner of the first lap, but managed to maintain position.
Attempting to wrest third spot into the next turn, Pic spun, was hit by two other cars and was out on the spot to end his hopes of a double-points haul.
Pic does not have much time to rest as the series heads to Hockenheim next weekend (July 29-31) in support of the German Grand Prix, where he will be hoping to add some more championship points to his 2016 tally.
“Apart from Race Two, the weekend was positive,” Pic said. “We had a good qualifying, the best of the year for us in P7. We weren’t far behind the second row and we were in amongst the front-runners, which is great.
“Race One went well. I made up a few places in the opening stages to get to fifth. After we pitted for the hard tyres, I managed to overtake Norman Nato. It was the first big points of the year for us and we had similar pace to those in front so that was good.
“In Race Two we were really unlucky. I was hit in the first corner and then I spun while I was defending my position on the outside of Turn 2. We aren’t sure exactly why but certainly it was something to do with the first-corner contact. After I spun, I was hit again so I had to retire.
“It’s a shame about the Sprint Race because I believe we were in for some big points. Now we look forward to Hockenheim. I raced there a couple of years ago and enjoy the circuit.”
