2006 Hungaroring Feature Race

The 2006 Hungaroring Feature Race, formally known as the 2006 Hungaroring GP2 Series Race 1, was the sixteenth race of the 2006 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Hungaroring in Mogyoród, Pest, Hungary, on 5 August 2006. The race would see Nelson Piquet Jr. sweep to his maiden GP2 Series Grand Slam, collecting pole, victory, fastest lap while also leading every lap of the race.

Indeed, the Brazilian racer was the man to beat across the weekend, sweeping to pole position some six tenths clear of second placed José María López. Indeed, it proved to be a very good day for Piquet, for Championship leader and Piquet's main title rival, Lewis Hamilton, spun on his first lap and failed to set a time.

Unsurprisingly Piquet was not to be beaten at the start of the race, with the #11 Piquet Sports car sprinting off the grid to claim the lead ahead of López. Indeed, López was instead left to strike a fast starting Michael Ammermüller and cause the German racer to retire, with Adam Carroll leading Gianmaria Bruni, Giorgio Pantano and Alexandre Negrão past López as he recovered.

Elsewhere, Hamilton made a stunning start from last on the grid, sweeping up to sixteenth before the end of the opening tour to remind everyone why he was the Champion-elect. However, the Brit's progress would soon stall during the early stages, prompting ART to gamble on an early stop for the #2 car at the end of the second lap.

Unfortunately for Hamilton his desire to get back onto the circuit would cause him further trouble, for the Brit would speed in the pitlane and earn himself a drive-through penalty. That left him dead-last of those still running, while, out-front, Piquet asserted his dominance at the head of the field by lapping a second a lap faster than Carroll behind.

Carroll, however, was not exactly holding up the rest of the field, for he was able to pull out a fair gap of his own over Bruni in the early laps, with the Italian racer instead forming a road block. As a result several drivers began making their stops from the top end of the field, with Pantano the first to stop in a bid to undercut his compatriot on lap twelve.

The ploy failed for Pantano as Bruni stopped a lap later and remained ahead, before Carroll dived into the pits a few laps later, half-spun on the brakes, and then suffered a slow stop. That combined to dump the Brit to the bottom of the top ten, while Alexandre Negrão and Javier Villa moved up to the front of the field behind Piquet.

Piquet's stop came after theirs, with the Brazilian racer pitting and resuming with the lead on lap eighteen, and still with a huge lead over Timo Glock, who had jumped Bruni and Pantano. Indeed, Piquet was not to be seen for the rest of the race, with the title pretender opening out a half-minute advantage as rival Hamilton picked his way towards the points.

Yet, Hamilton would run out of time to get into the top eight, for Piquet swept across the line after 42 laps to claim one of the most dominant victories in GP2's short history. Glock was a lonely second ahead of Pantano, the Italian having jumped Bruni late on, with Ernesto Viso likewise having muscled past the #26 Trident before Bruni retired. Negrão was next up ahead of Alexandre Prémat and Carroll, while López claimed reverse grid pole for the Sprint after dragging his partially wounded car to the chequered flag.

Background
The GP2 Series would once again follow Formula One further east across Europe, with the two series arriving at the Hungaroring near Budapest, Hungary, at the start of August. For 2006 there would be no changes made to the circuit, with the GP2 Series field likewise unchanged upon arrival in the former Soviet state for its second visit in two years.

Hockenheim Haul
Third place was less significant than the fact that both his main title rivals had again failed to score for Championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who entered the final three rounds of the campaign with an impressive 82 point tally. That meant his lead over second placed Nelson Piquet Jr. stood at 26 points with 60 points left to fight for, while Alexandre Prémat was 33 off the lead in third. Timo Glock, meanwhile, had moved closer to the fight for second, Ernesto Viso had moved back ahead of Gianmaria Bruni to complete the top five, while Giorgio Pantano nudged closer to the top ten.

In the Teams' Championship it had been a relatively quiet day at the head of the Championship, with ART Grand Prix having seen their huge lead take only a minor hit. Indeed, as their scoring run hit eleven consecutive races and their points tally 131 points, their advantage had been reduced to 56 points by iSport International, who had themselves reinforced their hold on second. Behind, a non-score for Piquet Sports had dropped them 67 points off the lead, while Arden International and Trident Racing completed the top five.

Entry List
The full entry list for the is displayed below:

Qualifying
Qualifying for the inaugural GP2 Series race would be staged via a thirty minute session on Friday afternoon, ahead of the Feature Race on Saturday. All 24 drivers would venture onto the circuit during the session, and were allowed to complete as many laps as they could to set their qualifying time. There was also a free choice of tyres, although drivers could not exceed their allocation of Bridgestone tyres.

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.

Milestones

 * Nelson Piquet Jr. claimed his third win.
 * Piquet became the first driver to claim a Grand Slam in the GP2 Series.
 * Piquet Sports secured their third win as an entrant.

Standings
On the surface there appeared to have been little change to the overall Championship picture, for Lewis Hamilton still held a healthy lead, while there had been no changes to the order in the top seven. However, the Brit's lead had been cut in half after his first failure to score since Imola, with Nelson Piquet Jr. moving to within thirteen points of the leader. Alexandre Prémat was next up ahead of Timo Glock, who had both inched closer to the leader, while Ernesto Viso remained in the top five.

In the Teams' Championship it was ART Grand Prix who continued to hold the initiative, with the French squad having moved onto 134 points for the campaign. Their lead had been reduced by ten, however, after a very strong afternoon for iSport International, who closed the gap to 46 points, while Piquet Sports had likewise stepped slightly closer. Arden International and Trident Racing then completed the top five, while FMS International moved ahead of Super Nova Racing.