Rodin Motorsport’s Gianmarco Pradel scorched to his first GB3 Championship victory in race one at the Hungaroring.

The Australian started third on the grid, but blasted into the lead on the run to turn one, and despite an early safety car period, was unchallenged as he crossed the line with a three second margin to the rest of the field. 

Earlier in the day, Hitech TGR's Keanu Al Azhari and Pradel's championship-leading teammate Alex Ninovic claimed pole positions with rapid laps in the two-part qualifying session. 

Qualifying
Al Azhari and Ninovic both destroyed the GB3 qualifying lap record with their pole laps. Al Azhari claimed race one pole in the first qualifying session, setting a time of 1m37.460s, 2.169s quicker than last year's benchmark. 

Al Azhari's best lap to claim his first GB3 pole came midway through the session, and put him 0.135s clear of Pradel, with Ninovic next up in third. Will Macintyre secured his and Elite Motorsport's best qualifying result of the campaign so far with the fourth quickest time ahead of Hitech's Deagen Fairclough and Xcel's Patrick Heuzenroeder. The top-six was covered by less than half a second.

Ninovic then secured his third pole of the season with his effort in Q2. His best lap of 1m37.445s was 0.015s quicker than Al Azhari's Q1 time, and again came midway through the session. Ninovic spent the final five minutes of the session in the pits, and had to wait nervously as Al Azhari put in another rapid effort on his final tour, though the Emirati fell just 0.024s short of a double pole. 

Pradel was third this time around, ahead of JHR's Noah Lisle, with Fairclough fifth once more ahead of Macintyre, and the top-six again covered by half a second.

Race one
A nightmare start for Al Azhari dropped him to fourth on the run to turn one, and it was Pradel from second on the grid who capitalised to take a lead he's never relinquish. Macintyre followed him through to run second, while Ninovic held third early on.

Pradel built a lead of over a second at the end of the first lap, but Macintyre was able to get within DRS range across the next few laps, only for the action to be halted when the safety car was deployed to cover Flynn Jackes' stranded car. When racing resumed, Pradel was able to pull clear, while Al Azhari passed Ninovic to take third. 

Pradel was able to build a much bigger lead in the second half of the race, taking the flag three seconds clear. His charge was aided by the fact Macintyre was soon engrossed in a battle to hang on to his second place, with Al Azhari and Ninovic swarming all over him. Somehow the British driver clung on to his position, with the three cars separated by six tenths of a second at the flag. 

Behind Ninovic in fourth was the Xcel Motorsport car of Patrick Heuzenroeder, with Hitech's Deagen Fairclough completing the top-six.

Pradel said: “After the first corner, we got it done quick and after that it was just a really long race, I was wanting the chequered flag from lap two! But apart from that, from my side I'm really happy with the step that I've made from the last races and it's really good that I could show my pace and consistency finally today.

"The heat got me more than the car and I'm feeling my neck a little bit but I don't really feel it. I'm grinning from ear to ear and the adrenaline is too fast! Halfway through the race I was thinking 'ok we need to calm down, no celebrating too hard tonight!' We're starting third tomorrow and then we've got the reverse grid, and I'm pretty optimistic. With the pace we had today, I'm sure we can do some more tomorrow."

GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Q1 result:
1. Keanu Al Azhari, Hitech TGR, 1m37.460s
2. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, +0.135s
3. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, +0.245s
4. Will Macintyre, Elite Motorsport, +0.440s
5. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, +0.450s
6. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, +0.468s

GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Q2 result:
1. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, 1m37.445s
2. Keanu Al Azhari, Hitech TGR, +0.024s
3. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, +0.147s
4. Noah Lisle, JHR Developments, +0.370s
5. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, +0.425s
6. Will Macintyre, Elite Motorsport, +0.505s

GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, race one provisional result:
1. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, 15 laps
2. Will Macintyre, Elite Motorsport, +3.166s
3. Keanu Al Azhari, Hitech TGR, +3.548s
4. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, +3.863s
5. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, +5.914s
6. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, +8.297s

GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, provisional driver standings after race 10 of 24:
1. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, 186pts
2. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, 176pts
3. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, 151pts
4. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, 150pts
5. Will Macintyre, Elite Motorsport, 145pts
6. Noah Lisle, JHR Developments, 141pts

GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, provisional team standings after race 10 of 24:
1. Rodin Motorsport, 344pts
2. Hitech TGR, 334pts
3. Hillspeed, 274pts
4. Xcel Motorsport, 274pts
5. Argenti with Prema, 258pts
6. JHR Developments, 239pts