Dennis Hauger unbeaten in Hungaroring free practice for Italian F4

Photo: ACI Sport

Red Bull junior Dennis Hauger led both free practice sessions for the third round of the Italian Formula 4 season at the Hungaroring.

The Norwegian was untouchable in the cooler conditions of the morning, lapping a third of a second clear of new Mercedes Formula 1 junior Paul Aron.

Closely bunched behind Aron was the rest of the 35-car field, with just over 3.5 seconds covering the entire pack.

Bhaitech’s Mikhail Belov and Aron’s championship leading Prema team-mate Gianluca Petecof were both within a tenth of second place, with Jenzer Motorsport duo Giorgio Carrara and Jonny Edgar going fifth and sixth fastest and around half a second off Hauger’s pace.

During the afternoon, the pack tightened up and Hauger’s advantage was narrowed to just a tenth over Petecof. The circuit’s surface temperature had risen to 44.7 ?C, putting an extra stress on tyres.

Aron was third in this session, with Hauger’s Van Amersfoort Racing team-mate Ido Cohen going fourth fastest and jumping himself up to ninth in the combined classification.

Bettering Cohen off their morning times were Oliver Rasmussen (Prema) and Niklas Krutten (VAR), while Ivan Berets showed DRZ Benelli’s strong pace with 10th place. Berets has only scored points once this season, and lies 13th in the standings.

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