It’s time for the first qualifying session of the weekend in Hungary. Who will start the Feature race on top, a well known championship contender like Gabriele Mini or Arvin Lindblad coming off a very impressive British weekend, or will it be an outsider such as Marti Boya, leader of the first outing of the weekend?
The beginning of the session was slightly delayed, but at 15:10 local time the 30 minutes grid setting session started. Heavy traffic and track limits will definitely have an impact on the final outcome.
Yellow flags were issued in Sector 1 as Sophia Floersch spun out on track few second after Mansell and Leon ran wide in front of her. Luke Browning went on top as first with a 1:34.951s, but times are thumbling at this point, with Goethe and Bedrin lowering the bar shortly after.
With 21 minutes to go it’s a AIX team top three lockout, with Dufek’s 1:34.414s ahead of Inthraphuvasak and Bedrin. All the drivers return to the pits for a quick tyre swap and setup change, with 8 drivers yet to sign a lap including Montoya, Mansell, Tsolov and Floersch, whereas provisional pole sitter for tomorrow’s sprint race would be Boya at the moment.
All drivers get on the radio to complain about traffic as they get back on track with 14 minutes to go. An incident between Beganovic and Wisnicki, as the Rodin driver impeded the Prema youngster, and another between Montoya and Sztuka.
Rookie driver Van Hoepen gets provisional pole in 1:34.317s, but his time is improved by 0.115s by Leon. The VAR driver’s leading moment was very short, as Trident’s Fornaroli shaves off 0.001s to get P1. Championship leader Mini is severely struggling, as his best attempt puts him in P15 with 10 minutes remaining, just like his teammate and title competitor Lindblad in P19.
Mansell’s ART car struggled and stalled while on his way out of the pits, but ultimately the Australian driver was able to resume his session with everyone else and 4 minutes left on the clock.
There will be time left for only one or two attempts. Van Hoepen is the first driver to sign a lap in the 1:33s, joined by Tsolov on the front row shortly after. However the duo signed their laps with yellow flags in sectors 2 and 3.
Photo credits: ART GP
Those yellows turned to red, as Luke Browning crashed out of qualifying at Turn 11, the same spot where Mansell and Floersch had struggled earlier. The session was ended earlier due to the red flag , and the championship contender might see his best lap, which had him provisionally in P7, cancelled due to the new rules introduced earlier in the session.
It’s a first pole position for Van Hoepen, who has also qualified in the top 12 for every championship round of the season so far. He will lineup alongside Tsolov and Fornaroli, with Inthraphuvasak taking reverse pole for tomorrow’s Sprint.
Provisional top 10 features Leon, Ramos, Dufek for his best starting position, Browning, Meguetounif, Tramnitz and Mansell.
However, the starting grid might still be shaken up following some of the on-going investigations, as well as Browning’s penalty.
