Just a short distance from Budapest sits the 4.3km track, with sharp turns and long straights, the track offers a tricky challenge for the field of young racers. With plenty of on-track knowledge gathered in pre-season testing, where his pace placed him as quickest rookie, Marcus was eager to get out to put it all into practice. 

Under blazing sunshine, the Italian team’s promising pace fired up the timing screens in the practice sessions, which saw Marcus finish the day as fastest rookie, just behind his experienced teammates Zhou and Schumacher. His form continued as the pack took to the track for qualifying, trading places throughout the session, the drivers improved with the smallest of margins. With less than a second splitting the grid, Marcus powered to line up P5 for Race 1. With confidence in his Prema machine and his own ability, Marcus had his eyes on capitalising on his grid position. 

Stellar starts

With a phenomenal start, Marcus catapulted himself forward to challenge the lead as the pack stormed into Turn 1. Holding his own, side-by-side with pole sitter Ticktum, having the clear advantage into the corner Marcus swept ahead. But as Ticktum misjudged his line, the British driver clipped Marcus with his front wing, forcing him to fall back down the order. Nursing damage the Kiwi peeled into the pits and ultimately was forced to retire. Dealing a cruel blow following what was a promising start for the 17-year-old, Marcus reset and looked ahead to reversing his fortune in the remaining races. 

"I had a great start but another car drove into my left rear tire and gave me a puncture. That was it for race 1. Qualifying 2 was not too bad, we set three very good laps and the speed was good too. We’ll start race 2 and 3 in a good position tomorrow..."

Second chances

Rapidly making a name for himself as a ‘rocket launch starter’, Race 2 was no exception as with a point to prove, the FDA-backed driver made a storming start to find himself in P2 by the first corner. Tucking in behind Ahmed, Marcus held the chasing pack with superb precision as they made their first lap of the winding Hungarian track. As Ahmed edged further up the road, the Kiwi driver focussed his attention to pulling a gap from the challenge behind. Settling into the race, he judged his pace perfectly to ensure his tyres held for the duration, allowing him to manage any advances from his rivals. Taking the flag in P2, Marcus sealed his second podium of the season. Soaking up the champagne, the relentless racer set his sights on the top step in the final outing of the weekend. 

“My start was good and I was right behind Enaam at the beginning. I was a bit surprised myself that I was so fast. The car feels great and the race was good, I felt I had to make up for yesterday after running in P1 and then missing out on any points. So today I just wanted to score some points, after yesterday getting a podium feels great.”

Turmoil at Turn 1

Despite storms soaking the track mere minutes before, the dense summer heat rapidly dried the track as the final race got underway on Sunday afternoon. Lining up in 3rd, Marcus focussed on repeating his stellar start performances, as the grid prepared to roar down the straight. Shooting off the line once more, in his signature style, he powered to the outside of Ahmed and Ticktum as the trio ran three wide. Appearing to have the advantage, he swept ahead of Ahmed threading his line into Turn 1, whilst a lock-up from Ticktum on the inside offered Marcus the lead. But in another devastating twist, Ticktum rejoined the track to clash wheels with his Prema car, unable to avoid the collision, the incident brought his race to an end in a heartbreaking replay of race 1. 

Despite his misfortune, Marcus leaves Budapest with promising pace and having celebrated a solid podium scoring performance. Making his mark in the sharp end of the grid, he looks ahead to pushing his upwards momentum when the championship heads to Norisring on the 23-24th June.