John Martin has salvaged some pride with 13th place in Race 2 of the World Series by Renault at the Hungaroring in Hungary.

After finishing Race 1 on Saturday 19th of the 26 runners, the driver better known for his A1GP exploits with A1 Team Australia went into Sunday’s race hoping overnight setup changes had transformed his Comtec Racing machine.

“I didn’t make a really good start,” said Martin. “But then into Turn One I went around the outside and passed quite a few cars. I was inside a couple of cars at Turn Two and would have passed them as well, but then the ignition cut briefly.”

“I came around to Turn Seven I think it was and there had been a really big shunt and (Greg son of the 1992 Formula One World Champion) Mansell’s wing had broken off and was coming across towards me. I kept moving over to try and avoid it but I ended up in the gravel and lost all the spots I had gained at Turn One.”

At the end of lap 1, the 24-year-old found himself in 19th position as the Safety Car was deployed.

Unlike Race 1, which featured a partial reverse grid with the order of the top eight cars reversed, Race 2 was a normal grid affair but also included a mandatory pitstop where two tyres must be changed.

As the flurry of pitstops began following the lap 5 restart, Martin vaulted up the order and was running 10th on lap 9. However a second Safety Car period saw the team led by ex-Lotus Formula One driver Martin Donnelly forced to change their strategy.

“We lost out a little bit with the second Safety Car period in terms of when we pitted,” said Martin. “We had planned to stop on the lap the Safety Car came out but you aren’t allowed to pit under Safety Car so we had to wait. You also aren’t allowed to follow the Safety Car into pitlane so that meant we had to wait another lap.”

Unfortunately for Martin handling woes in practice as he tried to learn the track meant that the tyres which went on at the stop were flat spotted. Nevertheless a quick change of just the front tyres moved him ahead of Brendon Hartley who also pitted on lap 12.

“I had mid corner understeer before the pitstop and with the flat spotted tyres it turned into big understeer after the pitstop,” said Martin.

“The rear brakes were locking on entry to the corner so I wound more and more bias onto the front, but all that succeeded in doing was overheating the front brakes. So by the end of the race I was struggling to stop and get the car to turn in. That was how Hartley got past me again, there wasn’t a lot I could do as he had a quicker car. It just wasn’t my weekend.”

Victory in Race Two went to the Italian Pasquale Di Sabatino, with Martin crossing the line 40.046s later in 13th place after 25 laps.

This weekend sees Martin enjoying a break from competition as a spectator at the British Formula One Grand Prix before he makes his Superleague Formula debut for Glasgow Rangers FC at Magny Cours on June 27/28. A week later and its back to Silverstone, but this time with helmet and racesuit in hand for the fourth round of the World Series by Renault.