In Friday’s two Free Practice sessions held at the Hungaroring, it was the KUMHO TCR World Tour drivers Ma Qing Hua and Yann Ehrlacher who set the fastest times overall while Viktor Andersson and Kobe Pauwels were the quickest TCR Europe competitors. The weather conditions were completely different for the two sessions, with FP1 held in blazing sunshine and torrential rain delaying the start of FP2.

In FP1, the Audi Sport Team Comtoyou RS 3 LMS of Rob Huff set the early pace with a lap of 1:55.157 before both Yann Ehrlacher and Norbert Michelisz went quicker. Néstor Girolami then went P1 with a lap of 1:54.561 before improving with a 1:54.419 with around ten minutes of the half-hour session remaining.  

Late in the session, however, with just under two minutes left on the clock, the Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 03 of Ma Qing Hua set a lap time of 1:53.828 to grab the fastest time, with Girolami just over half a second slower in the ALM Motorsport Honda Civic Type R FL5 and Ma’s teammate Ehrlacher in third place. In TCR Europe, the top three times were set by the MA:GP Lynk & Co 03 of Viktor Andersson (1:55.944), Dušan Borković in the Target Competition Hyundai Elantra N (1:55.985) and series debutant Kevin Ceccon in an Aggressive Team Italia Hyundai (1:56.024).

Heavy rain immediately before Free Practice 2 meant the session was first declared wet and then delayed for around twenty minutes while the Clerk of the Course inspected the circuit. When the cars eventually made it out on track, the first competitive lap time was set by Ma Qing Hua (2:08.535) before Yann Ehrlacher went faster with a lap of 2:08.519 and then improved with a 2:08.500 to make it a Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 1-2 ahead of the ALM Motorsport Honda Civic Type R FL5 of Néstor Girolami (2:08.582). Halfway through the session, Kobe Pauwels was the best of the TCR Europe drivers with a lap time of 2:11.063.

There was another brief spell of rain just after the halfway point, although that didn’t stop a number of drivers from setting their best lap times inside the last five minutes or so on the drying track. Among them were Santiago Urrutia in P4 (2:08.766) and Mikel Azcona in P5 (2:09.624) and in TCR Europe Tom Coronel (2:11.723), Kevin Ceccon (2:12.066), Viktor Andersson (2:12.807) and Dušan Borković (2:12.878). There were, however, no changes at the top of the timesheet and so it was Ehrlacher who ended the session in P1 ahead of Ma Qing Hua and Néstor Girolami.

Top Positions

Free Practice 1

1. Ma Qing Hua (Cyan Racing Lynk & Co, Lynk & Co 03)  1:53.828

2. Néstor Girolami (ALM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5)  1:54.561

3. Yann Ehrlacher (Cyan Racing Lynk & Co, Lynk & Co 03)  1:54.750

TCR Europe

1. Viktor Andersson (MA:GP, Lynk & Co 03) 1:55.944

2. Dušan Borković (Target Competition, Hyundai Elantra N)  1:55.985

3. Kevin Ceccon (Aggressive Team Italia, Hyundai Elantra N)  1:56.024

Free Practice 2

1. Yann Ehrlacher (Cyan Racing Lynk & Co, Lynk & Co 03)  2:08.500

2. Ma Qing Hua (Cyan Racing Lynk & Co, Lynk & Co 03)  2:08.535

3. Néstor Girolami (ALM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5)  2:08.582

TCR Europe

1. Kobe Pauwels (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS) 2:11.063

2. Tom Coronel (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS)  2:11.723

3. Kevin Ceccon (Aggressive Team Italia, Hyundai Elantra N)  2:12.066

Qualifying is scheduled to start at 10.55 CEST on Saturday with Race 1 at 17.05. Race 2 is then scheduled for 12.05 on Sunday. Qualifying and both races will be streamed live on tcr-series.tv and the TCR TV app, as well as the TCR TV YouTube channel.