EPIC CHARGE HIGHLIGHT OF 'RING WEEKEND FOR ARMSTRONG

New Zealander Marcus Armstrong put in a sensational drive to break into the top ten in the second race of the Hungaroring FIA Formula 2 weekend, narrowly missing out on points but staying in touch with the championship leaders.

Rain and red flags spoiled qualifying for the Kiwi driver and many of his rivals going into the weekend, while a tangle with another competitor took him out of the feature race on Saturday.

The wet start to the weekend had prevented teams from arriving at an ideal setup to mitigate tyre wear level and maximise grip. Armstrong's non-finish sent him to the rear of the pack for the start of Sunday’s race and set the scene for his comeback charge – a performance unmatched by any other driver in the field.

Starting from 19th place on the grid, Armstrong sped through to overtake eight cars in as many laps, all the while managing the tyre degradation issues that put many of the drivers into the pits to change off their allocated medium compound tyres. He continued to challenge and clawed his way through to eighth as his tyres began to degrade.

With a late race stop for tyres Armstrong was able to return to the circuit without dropping a place.

In the closing stages he was locked in a duel with Renault F1 Junior Guanyu Zhou who grabbed eighth and the final point after passing Giuliano Alesi (who went the whole race on medium tyres) and Armstrong in the final two laps.

The teams now take a break from racing until the end of July when they re-convene at Silverstone in the UK for the fourth round.