One month ago, Lukas Dunner scored his maiden second place finish in the Euroformula Open at Spa-Francorchamps, so the expectations were high for the young team Teo Martin Motorsport driver when he arrived at the Hungaroring F1 circuit last Thursday.
Even the weekend before, the 17-year old added yet another brilliant career victory to his records when he joined the Wimmer Werk Motorsport team from his home town once again, for the fourth round Ultimate Cup Series 4-hour endurance race at Mugello in Italy on June 29. With two races to his credit in the Oreca-fueled Ligier LMP3, Dunner repeated his relentless performance from the opening round of the series back in March, taking pole position plus the race win together with joint-series leaders and teammates Vincent Capillaire and Matthias Kaiser. The youngest of the trio is third in the standings after four rounds, although having raced in just two of the events.
In the lead up to the race weekend in Hungary, it was not such an easy start for Dunner, for whatever reason, they could not do better than P8 and P16 in Friday practice. The team had a long night with considerable work to do from Friday through to Saturday.
When it came to Qualifying 1 Saturday morning, the F3 driver attending the Liese Prokop Private School at the centre for high performing youth athletes in Austria knew he would need to utilise his skill and his intelligence if he was going to be starting in P1 for the best advantage on this circuit. Duelling with championship leader Marino Sato, Dunner sat at the top of the timesheet when the field paused before their final run, the 17-year old then had to dig deep in the closing moments of the 25 minute session in reply to the quick times, pushing the limit as the checkered flag came out.
With the second pole position of the season, the Viennese driver had a clean start in Race 1 to assume the lead, but an unanticipated move by Sato right around the outside on the first corner relegated the #8 Teo Martin Motorsport car to P2. Applying immense pressure at times to the 20-year old, Dunner looked for every opportunity to pass, as both drivers continuously clocked better times for the duration of the race, ending in a close finish across the line.
Welcome relief from the summer heat arrived Sunday, however, Qualifying 2 was by no means less controversial when it came to the officials policing track limits and the most experienced guest contender trying to get heat into his tyres, which is not in the rules either. Taking the eventual pole, Nobuharu Matsushita narrowly stole P1 for Race 2, while Lukas Dunner ranked fifth using an alternate strategy, failing to make it a double after being blocked on his flying lap before the penultimate corner and losing out for exploring the sidelines when posting his best sector times.
In the last race, Dunner once again proved all the dedicated work by his Spanish team was the only real challenge for the strength of the major outfits, not only matching their times, but setting the fastest race lap overall. Issues with two of the series front-runners at the start left the starring Japanese duo alone ahead of the Austrian, until a mid-race safety car reset the field and added another two laps to the distance. Once more, Dunner stepped up the pace as he closed in, searching for a way to pass, but in the end having to settle for the last step on the podium.
Each and every weekend has shown the further potential of what this young Austrian teenager is capable of accomplishing, realising the importance of working tirelessly together with his team in their battle against the incredibly fierce competition they face. The outcome is the success they now see, as Lukas Dunner sits second in the classification at the halfway mark of the season.
Lukas Dunner:
“I’m super happy with the weekend and leave Hungary with P2 in the standings, 1 pole position, 2 podiums and 1 big aim – my first win in single-seaters. “In qualifying, I knew I only had one lap at the end to regain the top position, so I pushed it to the limit and tried my best, managing the tyres well and we achieved pole. I was really happy seeing this track is quite hard to overtake, with many corners and not many straights. Now, we go directly to the Red Bull Ring, my second home race and favourite race track. I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to racing there; I’ve not had the chance until now!”
