Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Hungaroring – Collective testing
Two teams dominated the three hours of collective testing at the Hungaroring: Epsilon Red Bull and SG Formula. Brendon Hartley and Jules Bianchi were the quickest in today's sessions, but their team-mates have yet to throw in the towel!The French championship competitors, who had come straight from the Val de Vienne circuit where they had raced last weekend, wasted little time getting into their stride. With two minutes of the morning session remaining, Jules Bianchi (SG Formula) became the first to dip under the 1'46'' mark. He thus moved ahead of his team-mates Alexandre Marsoin and Charles Pic. Winner of two races in France, Marsoin is clearly determined to make up the ground on Pic in the championship: «I came into the weekend in good spirits after winning last weekend. This afternoon I didn't make the most of my new tyres, but I think I deserved to be in the top three.»
In the afternoon, Brendon Hartley (Red Bull Epsilon) went quickest with a lap of 1'44''453, just ten minutes before the end of the session. After his double win at Zolder, the New Zealander had been out of contention at the Nürburgring due to a broken finger. He was determined to return to form today: «I didn't put new tyres on the car this morning. Things went very well in the second session, although I think I can still improve through the first two hairpins.»
The first sector was clearly difficult for many of the drivers. The day's second quickest driver, Jules Bianchi, also lost two tenths in the renowned hairpin section: «I was in the top five on worn tyres and I also did well on new tyres. Once I've worked out how to negotiate the first two corners, it'll be fine!»
After experiencing some setbacks in the early part of the season, Stefano Coletti (Epsilon Red Bull) hit form today, clocking the day's third quickest time: «I lost half an hour due to a steering problem and so I could only do one lap on my fresh set of tyres. We'll have to work even harder tomorrow to fine tune the setup. I hope that this a new start to the season for me!»
Fourth quickest, Romanian driver Mihai Marinescu (District Racing) confirmed that he is an outsider worth watching: «It's true that we're not that far from Romania but I don't really feel like I am racing on home soil here. This is the first time I've driven here! I didn't expect to be so high up the rankings because my car is not yet perfect. We will try to maintain our good form in qualifying.»
Mika Mäki (Red Bull Epsilon) rounded off the top five, just ahead of his team-mate Jaime Alguersuari. The Finn was not however entirely satisfied with his day's work: «The balance of the car wasn't very good this morning and so we had to work all day to improve it. Things were better with fresh tyres, but we improve further to make up the ground on Brendon.»
One of the favourites, Henki Waldschmidt (Prema Power Team) had an extremely frustrating day. Only 21st, the Dutch driver hopes for better things to come: «We tried a new setup but it didn't work out. To be honest, we haven't found the right setup as yet. As things stand, I think I fight for fifth place, but probably no better than that.»
Driver - NAT - Team - Session1 - Session2 - Best - Gap
1 18 Brendon HARTLEY NZL EPSILON RED BULL TEAM 1:46.220 1:44.453 1:44.453 2 43 Jules BIANCHI FRA SG DRIVERS PROJECT 1:45.385 1:44.551 1:44.551 +0.098 +0.098 3 15 Stefano COLETTI MON EPSILON EUSKADI 1:46.783 1:44.839 1:44.839 +0.386 +0.288 4 29 Mihai MARINESCU ROM DISTRICT RACING 1:46.766 1:44.889 1:44.889 +0.436 +0.050 5 16 Mika M?KI FIN EPSILON RED BULL TEAM 1:46.400 1:44.953 1:44.953 +0.500 +0.064 6 19 Jaime ALGUERSUARI ESP EPSILON RED BULL TEAM 1:46.348 1:44.965 1:44.965 +0.512 +0.012 7 2 Charles PIC FRA SG FORMULA 1:46.027 1:45.000 1:45.000 +0.547 +0.035 8 1 Nelson PANCIATICI FRA SG FORMULA 1:45.084 1:45.084 +0.631 +0.084 9 4 Alexandre MARSOIN FRA SG DRIVERS PROJECT 1:45.758 1:45.269 1:45.269 +0.816 +0.185 10 9 Oliver TURVEY GBR JENZER MOTORSPORT 1:46.809 1:45.271 1:45.271 +0.818 +0.002 11 5 Oliver OAKES GBR MOTOPARK ACADEMY 1:46.149 1:45.311 1:45.311 +0.858 +0.040 12 10 Roberto MERHI ESP JENZER MOTORSPORT 1:47.225 1:45.337 1:45.337 +0.884 +0.026 13 28 Aleix ALCARAZ ESP DISTRICT RACING 1:46.559 1:45.357 1:45.357 +0.904 +0.020 14 27 Markus NIEMELA FIN BVM MINARDI TEAM 1:46.120 1:45.374 1:45.374 +0.921 +0.017 15 7 Fabio ONIDI ITA MOTORSPORT ARENA 1:46.613 1:45.417 1:45.417 +0.964 +0.043 16 8 Tobias HEGEWALD GER MOTORSPORT ARENA 1:46.946 1:45.445 1:45.445 +0.992 +0.028 17 3 Jon LANCASTER GBR SG DRIVERS PROJECT 1:46.220 1:45.456 1:45.456 +1.003 +0.011 18 24 Martin PLOWMAN GBR PREMA POWERTEAM 1:47.032 1:45.469 1:45.469 +1.016 +0.013 19 11 Fabio LEIMER SUI JENZER MOTORSPORT 1:46.846 1:45.500 1:45.500 +1.047 +0.031 20 22 Ho Ping TUNG CHN CRAM COMPETITION 1:46.927 1:45.522 1:45.522 +1.069 +0.022 21 25 Henki WALDSCHMIDT NED PREMA POWERTEAM 1:46.334 1:45.526 1:45.526 +1.073 +0.004 22 6 Frank KECHELE GER MOTOPARK ACADEMY 1:46.120 1:45.530 1:45.530 +1.077 +0.004 23 23 Kohei HIRATE JPN PREMA POWERTEAM 1:46.639 1:45.615 1:45.615 +1.162 +0.085 24 26 Felipe LAPENNA BRA BVM MINARDI TEAM 1:46.307 1:45.814 1:45.814 +1.361 +0.199 25 21 Daniele ZAMPIERI ITA CRAM COMPETITION 1:47.329 1:45.976 1:45.976 +1.523 +0.162 26 44 Simeon IVANOV BUL BVM MINARDI TEAM 1:47.104 1:46.217 1:46.217 +1.764 +0.241 27 35 Anton NEBILTSKIY RUS SL FORMULA 1:47.666 1:46.263 1:46.263 +1.810 +0.046 28 34 Pierre COMBOT FRA BOUTSEN ENERGY RACING 1:46.270 1:46.280 1:46.270 +1.817 +0.007 29 20 Nicola ZONZINI RSM CRAM COMPETITION 1:48.004 1:46.332 1:46.332 +1.879 +0.062 30 33 Stephane RICHELMI MON BOUTSEN ENERGY RACING 1:46.567 1:46.720 1:46.567 +2.114 +0.235 31 32 Tiago PETIZ POR OMICRON RACING 1:47.866 1:46.641 1:46.641 +2.188 +0.074 32 45 Bianca STEINER AUT STEINER MOTORSPORT 1:47.715 1:46.706 1:46.706 +2.253 +0.065 33 37 Marc AUBY RSA CARLIN MOTORSPORT 1:48.759 1:46.804 1:46.804 +2.351 +0.098 34 31 Francesc MORENO ESP OMICRON RACING 1:47.593 1:47.009 1:47.009 +2.556 +0.205 35 14 Pablo MONTILLA ESP EPSILON EUSKADI 1:49.125 1:47.441 1:47.441 +2.988 +0.432 36 12 Miquel JULI? ESP EPSILON EUSKADI 1:48.527 1:47.621 1:47.621 +3.168 +0.180 37 36 Pedro NUNES BRA SL FORMULA 1:48.079 1:48.323 1:48.079 +3.626 +0.458 38 38 Joe GHANEM LIB CARLIN MOTORSPORT 1:49.284 1:48.538 1:48.538 +4.085 +0.459
