Pepe Marti takes the Sprint Race win in Hungary

IMAGE: Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool

Josep Maria (Pepe) Marti takes the Sprint Race win in Hungary after defending brilliantly against a last minute charge from Alex Dunne.

It's the Spanish driver's third win of the season for Campos Racing and this one will feel even better coming out of the final lap battle on top. 

Alex Dunne ultimately had to settle for P2 after going wheel to wheel with the Spaniard in the final corners of the race but wasn't able to get move done. 

Jak Crawford sealed the Top 3 after making a last minute move on British Red Bull Junior Arvid Lindblad - who was later penalied post race for antics during the race. 

As it happened 

It was Pepe Marti on reverse grid Pole for today's Sprint Race after finishing 10th in Qualifying yesterday. Lining up alongside him was Alex Dunne for Rodin Motorsport with Marti's Campos teammate Arvid Lindblad starting in P3. 

Lights out and it was a good getaway off the line for the pole sitter but a slow start for the Irishman in P2 who was coming under attack from Lindblad in P3 very quickly. The Briton got a better start and managed to get ahead of Dunne going into Turn 1 making it a Campos 1-2 on Lap 1. 

However, the opening lap was not kept as clean further down the gird as a battle for P11 between Gabriele Mini and Joshua Duerksen had emerged and in the midst of the fight, Mini made contact with the rear of Roman Stanek's Invicta and sent the Czech into a spin at Turn 9 but both drivers managed to continue on in the race.

The incident was looked at by the stewards and the PREMA driver was handed a 10-second penalty for causing a collision which he served in his pitstop later on in the race.

Championship contender Richard Verschoor was up to eighth position on Lap 2 after passing his MP Motorsport teammate Oliver Goethe and was now in the points scoring places (reminder that P1 to P8 score points in an F2 Sprint Race).

The second Invicta car of Leonardo Fornaroli was also having a difficult start to the race up the road as he lost out on P6 in a battle with Luke Browning on Lap 3. 

Up front, Marti was struggling to shake Lindblad with the fellow Red Bull Junior just half a second behind him.

Dunne was crucially keeping up with the leaders in P3 and the front runners had pulled a gap of just under two seconds to Victor Martins of ART Grand Prix in P4 who was closely followed by Crawford. 

A fight for the lead was starting to take shape between the two Campos Racing drivers on Lap 8 as Lindblad made a big move down the inside at Turn 1 and momentarily took the lead. However, Marti kept his cool and retook the lead into Turn 2. 

The battle for the lead meant that Dunne and Martins behind were able to close up to the back of Lindblad and bunched up the top five in the race. 

Dunne was starting to get ever closer to the back of Lindblad's Campos as the Briton fell out of DRS range to the leader for a spell on Lap 14 after a few laps of putting pressure on Marti. Dunne looked to make a move on the first few corners of the lap but Lindblad defended well to keep P2.

Having been patiently waiting for the right moment to pounce on the Red Bull Junior ahead, Dunne made a great move from a long way back to take P2 from Lindblad at Turn 1 on Lap 19. 

Lindblad's problems kept on coming as he had fallen back with the reaches of Victor Martins in P4. However, the Frenchman who was fighting hard to make moves on the Brit in front was forced to back out to avoid collision going into Turn 3 which opened the door for Crawford to snatch P4.

Lap 22 saw the Safety Car out on track following Sebastian Montoya in the PREMA Racing machinery coming to a stop on the main straight. 

Racing got back underway on Lap 26 with Marti handling the restart very well but further back, Luke Browning made a move to take P5 from his fellow Williams Academy driver Victor Martins. 

Lap 28 of 28 and after struggling for the last few laps to get through, Crawford was able to use DRS down the main straight to take P3 going into Turn 1 bagging himself a podium place. 

Going into Turn 5 on the final lap, the leader of the race made a mistake allowing Alex Dunne to go wheel to wheel with the Spaniard into the final corners in a great battle.

In the end it was Marti who came out on top and held off the Irishman to secure his third win of the 2025 season with Crawford completing the podium - a great drive by the American today. 

Lindblad and Browning originally finished in P4 and P5 respectively but following time penalties for leaving the track and gaining an advantage for both drivers in two separate incidents with Martins, the pair ended up being demoted to P10 and P12.

This means that drivers have since been promoted meaning Martins takes P4 with Fornaroli coming home behind him in P5. Richard Verschoor took sixth followed by Oliver Goethe who moves up to P7 with the points places being rounded out by Dino Beganovic for Hitech TGR.

Tomorrow is the Formula 2 Feature Race - be sure to tune in for all the action at 10am on Sunday morning!

Katie Shepherd 
Writer - F1 Journal