SMP Racing junior driver Michael Belov took second place in one of the races of the third Italian Formula 4 round, which took place on July 6-7 at the Hungaroring circuit (Hungary).
Belov achieved his best result of the weekend in Race 2. The Russian started from second position, according to the reverse-grid rule as he finished seventh in Race 1. Right after the start, several cars collided in the middle of the pack, and the organizers stopped the race with a red flag. After the restart, Michael kept second place, successfully fending off the attacks of the rivals and establishing a 2.1s gap to the nearest pursuer.
Race 3 was also red flagged at the very beginning. At the restart, Belov took the lead and tried to keep it, but made contact with another driver and was handed a 10-second penalty to the final result. Therefore, the Russian dropped to eighteenth place in the overall standing of Race 3.
Michael Belov has scored 65 points during three rounds of the championship and is in fourth place in the overall standings, three points behind the nearest rival.
"In general, the weekend was good, we had a good pace in the qualifying rounds and races," SMP Racing junior driver Michael Belov said. "In the first race, I made a mistake at the start, trying to keep my position and let several rivals overtake me. However, during the race, I was able to recover and score some points. In the second race, we had a good pace and stood on the podium.
The start of the third race also turned out to be good, I was able to gain one position, moved up to second place and even built a gap to my pursuers. Soon the race was stopped with a red flag. The restart was also successful for me as I was on my initial third position and was fighting for first place, but could not avoid contact with my rival in the second turn. For this incident, I was handed a 10-second penalty to the result of the race.
I want to thank the team for a reliable car and my SMP Racing coaches for their support. Next week we are competing in the fourth round at the Red Bull Ring. Our goal is victory and podiums.”
The fourth round of the Italian Formula 4 Championship will take place on July 12-14 at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
