Ritomo Miyata happy to be back in the points with Budapest Feature result

It was a return to the top 10 for Ritomo Miyata, as the Japanese driver secured his first points-scoring result in the Feature Race since Melbourne around the Hungaroring.

The Rodin Motorsport rookie made the alternative strategy work for him as one of the drivers to benefit from the late-race Safety Car that occurred following Hitech Pulse-Eight's Amaury Cordeel’s incident at Turn 4.

Putting the Soft tyres on for the final phase of the race, Miyata made progress from 14th up to P8 by the chequered flag. It was a result he was hugely grateful for after a tough spell in the season.

“I’m happy we had some luck,” Miyata admitted. “The two Safety Cars – the first Safety Car was unlucky for us but then the second one was lucky for me and for us. Finally, I could get some points in the Feature Race, the first since Melbourne.

READ MORE: Aron handed post-Feature Race penalties in Budapest

“It’s been a long time, but I’ve been working hard on how to improve my driving performance and how to improve the car performance with the team. In Qualifying it wasn’t so good, but this is the first time I was driving the track, so I wasn’t ready for Qualifying.

“But in the races, it was a good performance and I showed improvement from FP and Qualifying. I was always pushing with the team and to finally get points, we’re very happy with that.”

The early race Safety Car took things away from Miyata in terms of his strategic options, having allowed those on the conventional strategy to make their mandatory stops under the Safety Car.

However, with the fortune going the other way later on, the Rodin driver says he wasn’t truly sure just how much things might swing in their favour, with the Soft compound tyre runners left with just over 10 laps to make their moves.

“I think a few of the cars ahead were on the same strategy – Prime to Option. Others were on the Option-to-Prime, so we had a chance to overtake. But I wasn’t sure what position we were in and how many we needed to overtake to get into the points.

“I just tried to make as many overtakes as I could and to finish P8 is very good and I’m very happy with that.”

Points in Budapest were the first for Miyata since the Barcelona Sprint Race and his first on a Sunday going back to Round 3 and Melbourne.

He acknowledged that the intervening races were difficult for him, with limited-to-no experience around the majority of the venues visited so far in 2024.

FEATURE RACE: Antonelli charges through to take second victory of the season in Budapest

Still, Miyata was pleased to have earned a confidence-boosting result going into the second round of the double-header prior to the summer break, after several previous opportunities got away from him and the team.

“To be honest, in Barcelona and Red Bull Ring, I wanted to get points, but unfortunately our performance wasn’t enough to get them. In Red Bull Ring we had an issue, so that was unlucky but that’s motorsport, any time something can happen.

“My feeling on my performances – I hate losing the positions and I always want to fight to get points or winning the race, but I understand that this season is really difficult, with it being the first time in Europe and driving these tracks.

“It’s a tough challenge but I want to make a good result and I have a big support from Japan, especially Toyota Gazoo Racing. Their support for me has helped me get to Europe so I want to get good results for them.

“But it was really good this weekend and finally I could show good fight on track I think.”