Hungaroring – Collective testing day 1

The leaders dominate once again!

After the fast Spa-Francorchamps and Silverstone circuits, the racing now turns to the serpentine Hungaroring. The challenge has changed, but the story was the same as Daniel Ricciardo (SG Formula), Valtteri Bottas (Motopark Academy) and Roberto Mehri (Epsilon Euskadi) took the lead right from the start of the four hours of collective testing.

The heat was already stifling for the first day of collective testing at the Hungaroring. Four hours of driving were on the programme in preparation for the third meeting of the season.

During the first session, the fastest time changed hands several times. In fact, the majority of the forty-one drivers in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 had to learn the twists and turns of this tortuous circuit. At the beginning of the session, Daniel Ricciardo, Andrea Caldarelli (SG Formula) and Richard Singleton (Hitech Junior) fought for first place. By the half-way point, it was Daniel Ricciardo who had the upper hand with a time of 1'46''055.

On a circuit which increases its grip with each passing lap, the times improved. The main field improved constantly and Paul Meijer (Epsilon Sport) took the top spot. Winner of the second race of the season at Spa-Francorchamps, Meijer was back and looking perfectly at home in his new team.

At the end of the session, it was Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo who once again battled for first place. Bottas nosed ahead with a time of 1'45''293, but the leader of Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 rose to the challenge and set the best time of the morning in 1'44''920.

In the afternoon, during the second session, the drivers were staying out on track for extended periods. Consequently, it was some time before the laps set during the morning session were bettered. Halfway through the session, Daniel Ricciardo took the lead ahead of Jenzer Motorsport divers Pal Varhaug and Michele Faccin. At that point, no fewer than 26 drivers were within a second of each other.

It was soon the turn of the Epsilon-Euskadi to show themselves off as Albert Costa then Roberto Mehri improved on Ricciardo's time to beat. The Australian, however, struck back at the very end of the session. With a lap clocked at 1'44''372, he turned in the performance of the day.

In a quieter second session, his arch-rival Valtteri Bottas managed to sneak back into second place right at the finish. Mehri was therefore relegated to third place, ahead of Albert Costa and the surprising Christophe Zanella (Race Performance).

Daniel Ricciardo: «We found the perfect rhythm. We've tried different set-ups and I think that now we're going in the right direction. This is the first time I've driven on this circuit, it's quite différent to anything we've seen so far this season. Valtteri Bottas is right behind me, I really need to try and beat him in qualifying!»

Valtteri Bottas: «On the old tyres, we weren't we really weren't very competitive. We've done a lot of driving, we've worked hard and at the end of the day we've opted for something that works well on new tyres. We've still got time to make improvements tomorrow. It's hot, it's important to have a car that won't work the rubber too hard.»

Roberto Mehri: «It's going to be very important for me to win this weekend, to grab some points. Plus I could use a win for morale. I've come close a number of times, but I've still not got the results!»

Pos Driver Team Time S1 Lap S1 Time S2 Lap S2 Time Gap First Gap Previous 

1 Daniel RICCIARDO SG FORMULA 1:44.920 37 1:44.372 34 1:44.372       2 Valtteri BOTTAS MOTOPARK ACADEMY 1:45.293 25 1:44.421 27 1:44.421 +0.049 +0.049   3 Roberto MERHI EPSILON EUSKADI 2 1:45.791 25 1:44.432 22 1:44.432 +0.060 +0.011   4 Albert COSTA EPSILON EUSKADI 2 1:45.831 39 1:44.554 32 1:44.554 +0.182 +0.122   5 Christophe ZANELLA RACE PERFORMANCE 1:46.224 26 1:44.820 20 1:44.820 +0.448 +0.266   6 Sergio CAMPANA PREMA POWERTEAM 1:46.873 16 1:44.829 30 1:44.829 +0.457 +0.009   7 Daniel ZAMPIERI BVM MINARDI TEAM 1:46.431 33 1:44.831 27 1:44.831 +0.459 +0.002   8 Pal VARHAUG JENZER MOTORSPORT 1:45.664 26 1:44.876 25 1:44.876 +0.504 +0.045   9 Richard SINGLETON HITECH JUNIOR TEAM 1:45.458 36 1:44.974 34 1:44.974 +0.602 +0.098   10 Andrea CALDARELLI SG FORMULA 1:45.635 39 1:45.040 33 1:45.040 +0.668 +0.066   11 Kuba GIERMAZIAK TEAM MOTOPARK 1:45.831 33 1:45.056 28 1:45.056 +0.684 +0.016   12 Adrian QUAIFE-HOBBS BVM MINARDI TEAM 1:46.504 32 1:45.101 30 1:45.101 +0.729 +0.045   13 Cesar RAMOS BVM MINARDI TEAM 1:46.138 34 1:45.124 27 1:45.124 +0.752 +0.023   14 Jean Eric VERGNE SG DRIVERS PROJECT 1:46.127 36 1:45.180 36 1:45.180 +0.808 +0.056   15 Jake ROSENZWEIG EPSILON EUSKADI 1 1:47.429 16 1:45.202 32 1:45.202 +0.830 +0.022   16 Luciano BACHETA HITECH JUNIOR RACING 1:46.172 37 1:45.209 22 1:45.209 +0.837 +0.007   17 Paul MEIJER EPSILON SPORT 1:45.941 17 1:45.243 26 1:45.243 +0.871 +0.034   18 Dean SMITH FORTEC MOTORSPORT 1:46.562 40 1:45.293 26 1:45.293 +0.921 +0.050   19 Miki MONRAS HITECH JUNIOR TEAM 1:45.502 30 1:45.304 34 1:45.304 +0.932 +0.011   20 Michele FACCIN JENZER MOTORSPORT 1:46.244 18 1:45.318 25 1:45.318 +0.946 +0.014   21 Siso CUNILL JENZER MOTORSPORT 1:46.675 17 1:45.333 23 1:45.333 +0.961 +0.015   22 Richard CAMPOLLO EPSILON EUSKADI 1 1:47.019 29 1:45.420 24 1:45.420 +1.048 +0.087   23 Gabriel DIAS FORTEC COMPETITION 1:45.990 39 1:45.461 32 1:45.461 +1.089 +0.041   24  Anton NEBILITSKYI SG DRIVERS PROJECT 1:46.652 39 1:45.465 41 1:45.465 +1.093 +0.004   25 Ramez AZZAM SG DRIVERS PROJECT 1:46.511 32 1:45.483 38 1:45.483 +1.111 +0.018   26 Pablo MONTILLA EPSILON EUSKADI 1 1:47.156 28 1:45.488 26 1:45.488 +1.116 +0.005   27 Juan JACOBO HITECH JUNIOR RACING 1:51.487 3 1:45.535 25 1:45.535 +1.163 +0.047   28 Nathanaël BERTHON BOUTSEN ENERGY RACING 1:46.893 30 1:45.566 33 1:45.566 +1.194 +0.031   29 Stephane RICHELMI EPSILON SPORT 1:46.514 23 1:45.666 23 1:45.666 +1.294 +0.100   30 Tobias HEGEWALD MOTOPARK ACADEMY 1:46.999 15 1:45.736 23 1:45.736 +1.364 +0.070   31 Juan Pablo GARCÍA TEAM MOTOPARK 1:47.569 31 1:45.750 26 1:45.750 +1.378 +0.014   32 Patrick REITERER PREMA POWERTEAM 1:46.648 32 1:45.776 37 1:45.776 +1.404 +0.026   33 Alex MORGAN FORTEC COMPETITION 1:46.683 23 1:45.874 20 1:45.874 +1.502 +0.098   34 Victor GARCIA PREMA POWERTEAM 1:47.514 32 1:45.950 32 1:45.950 +1.578 +0.076   35 Bastien BORGET EPSILON SPORT 1:46.848 23 1:45.954 28 1:45.954 +1.582 +0.004   36 Nicolas MARROC TCS RACING 1:47.211 32 1:46.175 41 1:46.175 +1.803 +0.221   37 Carlos MUÑOZ EPSILON EUSKADI 2 1:47.121 20 1:46.217 27 1:46.217 +1.845 +0.042   38 Miguel OTEGUI IQUICK 1:47.356 42 1:46.219 33 1:46.219 +1.847 +0.002   39 Daniel MCKENZIE FORTEC MOTORSPORT 1:46.949 34 1:46.265 28 1:46.265 +1.893 +0.046   40 Adam KOUT KRENEK MOTORSPORT 1:47.487 23 1:47.078 31 1:47.078 +2.706 +0.813   41 Dino BUTORAC RB RACING TEAM 1:51.075 17 1:49.890 17 1:49.890 +5.518 +2.812