Dylan Pereira has trumped the field in round three of the Mobil 1 Porsche Supercup at the Hungaroring to claim his second successive victory while his Lechner Racing teammate and largest title threat Jaxon Evans was dealt a drive-through penalty for an awkward crash at Turn 1.
The Kiwi had been embroiled in a race-long tussle with Jaap van Lagen for fifth position with the Kiwi capitalising on a strong run down the main straight to have a lunge around the outside of his rival, only for the pair to collide.
The damage to van Lagen was enough to retire while Evans was instructed to transit the pitlane to serve his penalty, eventually finish the race in 20th and last of all the runners.
Pole-sitter Pereira held the lead at Turn 1 after seeing off a firm challenge by Ayhancan Guven as Evans made his way from sixth into fourth with a swift move on Marvin Klein at the Turn 6-7 chicane the highlight of the opening lap.
However, as Pereira completed the first of 15 tours in the lead, his BWT Lechner Racing teammate Evans would relinquish the position at Turn 2 to slot back into fifth.
The first Safety Car of the season was then deployed one lap later to recover the stricken Dinamic Motorsport entry of Philipp Sager who careened into the wall along the main straight having spun on the greasy kerb of the final corner.
On the restart, Pereira and Guven checked out as Evans yielded a spot to van Lagen while Australian rookie Jordan Love was having his best race of his 2020 campaign running in tenth.
Evans was pushing hard to chase down van Lagen, aware that Pereira was extending his championship lead up front.
But the Kiwi was slightly over-optimistic under the brake pedal into Turn 1 on Lap 8, only narrowly avoiding slamming into the rear of his rival as the untamed rear of his Porsche GT3 Cup car become tail-happy.
The entertaining duel between Evans and van Lagen was the closest battle on track but hindered the Kiwi’s pursuit of the leaders, with a lurking Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer showing his nose in a couple of half-hearted moves.
On Lap 12 Evans once again tried to pull off a daring move around the outside of van Lagen into Turn 1 only this time for the pair to clash, pitching the Kiwi into the air momentarily as his front-right wheel made heavy contact with the left-front rim of his rival.
Evans would lose a position to Simmenaur just as van Lagen skated off the road at Turn 2, retiring from the race due to damage.
Initially, the collision was reminiscent of a racing incident though race control did put the Kiwi under investigation before being dealt a drive-through penalty one lap later.
The penalty put an end to Evans’ day as the Levin-born racer was demoted to 20th and last when he fulfilled his punishment on the penultimate lap.
Pereira’s victory, the fourth of his Porsche Supercup career, ensures his unbroken run of podiums in 2020 continues as the field heads to Silverstone in two weeks time.
The win also extends the points lead of the Luxembourgish driver, with Evans losing valuable ground on his rival with only five races left in the championship