Manor MP Motorsports Riccardo Agostini secured the first podium finish of his debut season in the AUTO GP series during round six of the 2013 campaign in Hungary on Sunday, 5th May, to climb into the top four of the championship and second position in the Under 21 standings.

The Italian, who has been making waves in the championship since starting his rookie season with a sensational pole position qualifying performance at Monza back in March, showcased his great skill in both Hungaroring racesadding his podium result to a fine fourth place in round five.

Coupled with a brace of seventh place results for Dutch racer Danil De Jong and a top six finish for his compatriot Meindert van Buuren in round five, Manor MP Motorsport has moved into fourth in the team standings , just a single point outside the top three and only 11 points shy of the lead.

Lining-up fourth on the grid for race one, despite being baulked by traffic in qualifying on Saturday, 4th May, Agostini didnt make the best of starts and slipped down to sixth while van Buuren ran just behind his team-mate and De Jong was shuffled back to 11th from eighth.

Agostini was one of the first to take his mandatory pit-stop on lap four and the strategy worked well as he was able to gradually work his way through the order, moving into the top four a couple of laps from the finish. De Jong pitted a lap after his team-mate but, running something of a gamble with his set-up after being unhappy with the pace during qualifying, he had to be satisfied with seventh place, one spot behind van Buuren. The young rookie stayed out until five laps from the end of the race, running as high as third before making his pit-stop. Rejoining in seventh, he took sixth shortly after.

By way of the round five results, De Jong lined-up second on the reverse grid for race two with van Buuren third and Agostini fifth. At the start, the two leading Manor MP Motorsport cars maintained position but on lap two there was bitter disappointment for van Buuren when forced to retire with engine problems.

De Jong slipped to third a couple of laps later but remained a factor in the fight for the podium right up until his pit-stop four laps from the finish. Unfortunately for him, a problem during the wheel change lost valuable time and the Dutchman ended the race in seventh position. 

Conversely, Agostini took his pit-stop early and after emerging back onto the track in 10th place he made strong progress through the order. As others, including De Jong, pitted late in the race, the Italian was able to move into the top three to take his memorable first ever AUTO GP podium.

Reflecting on the third event of the season, team principal Sander Dorsman said: It was a bit of a difficult weekend for the team, we had ups and downs. On the positive side, it was great to see Riccardo on the podium for the first time but we were disappointed for Danil, we took a bit of a risk in the first race with the set-up and then there was a problem in the pit-stop in race two.

Meindert did a great job in race one, he delivered a strong race, but he was really unlucky to have a problem with the engine in the second onethat was a big pity. We should have had more from this weekend but, in the end, it was OK with the podium and to have moved up the championship.

Rounds seven and eight of the AUTO GP season will take place four weeks from now, on 1st/2nd June, at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit in the UK. Before then, the teams GP2 Series squad will be back in action just a few days from now on 11th/12th May at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain.

2013 AUTO GP Driver Standings (after Rd6):4th Riccardo Agostini, 51pts; 8th Danil De Jong, 28pts; 10th Meindert van Buuren, 15pts

2013 AUTO GP Under 21 Standings (after Rd6):2nd Riccardo Agostini, 51pts; 4th Danil De Jong, 28pts; 6th Meindert van Buuren, 15pts

2013 AUTO GP Team Standings (after Rd6):4th Manor MP Motorsport, 94pts