Collision forces Zane Maloney to retire from the main race in Hungary

ZANE MALONEY suffered a serious accident during the main race in Hungary after being forced to retire on lap 7 by Hitech Pulse-Eight rider Paul Aron. writes Damian Hall.

Despite an incredible start that saw the Barbados-born rider gain four places from eighth place by the time he entered the field’s first corner, all of his hard work was undone on lap 7 coming out of corner two.

Aron, who had started the race on pole position but lost it at Turn 1, attempted to overtake Red Bull Junior driver Dennis Hauger. He came up the inside at Turn 2 and collided with the rear of Maloney’s No. 5 machine. The impact caused Maloney to spin, stalling his car and ending the race prematurely.

This is particularly bad news as Maloney’s alternative strategy of starting on the primary tires (hard) could have paid off.

Although he had less grip at the start compared to the competitors around him who were running on soft tyres, he showed his dominance on the track up to the first corner.

He had boldly positioned himself on the inside of Turn 1, which then became the outside of Turn 2. His position was briefly challenged, but he smartly decided to stay on the outside, giving him the inside advantage for Turn 3 and consolidating his position.

This incident left the Rodin Motorsport driver without any points for the weekend and dropped slightly to 4th place in the championship standings with 101 points – 39 points behind current championship leader Isack Hadjar.

From 26 to 28 July, Formula 2 will now move on to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.