Michael Belov fastest at Hungaroring in FREC test

Photo: FRECA

G4 Racing’s Michael Belov was fastest by just 0.042 seconds in Formula Regional European Championship testing at the Hungaroring.

Thursday was split into a two-hour morning session and two-hour afternoon session, with 33 cars making it onto track in hot temperatures.

MP Motorsport was the team to beat at first in the morning, with its trio of drivers leading the way in the first 15 minutes of action by lapping in the 1m42s.

After half an hour the picture had changed, with most drivers back in the pits and Prema’s Rafael Camara now fastest with a 1m41.159s lap to lead Trident’s Roman Bilinski by 0.192s and with a second covering the top five.

Camara was still at the top when red flags were waved, but it was only a short stoppage.

Bilinski moved to the top in the second hour, setting a 1m40.544s to go 0.524s faster than MP’s Victor Bernier in secon place and with Camara shuffled down to third having failed to improve on his earlier pace.

There was a period of few improvements as the track got hotter, although Race Performance Motorsport’s Santiago Ramos went fourth fastest with half an hour remaining.

He was shuffled down to fifth with a few minutes to go as ART Grand Prix’ Laurens van Hoepen became Bilinski’s closest rival and only the second driver to lap in the 1m40s, while most drivers stayed in the pits.

Van Hoepen was the benchmark driver at the start of the second session with a 1m42.048s, then R-P-M’s Maceo Capietto set two laptimes good enough for first place in the first 15 minutes to bring the pace down to 1m41.219s as the track temperature went above 50°C.

Improvements kept being set, and Capietto had managed to set a 1m39.909s before the final half-hour of running. Bilinki was 0.717s behind in second, with MP’s Kas Haverkort the only other drivers to have lapped sub-1m41s.

Monolite Racing’s Kirill Smal then jumped up to second place, 0.480s off the pace, and when Prema sent its drivers out with 15 minutes to go Camara got within 0.240s of Capietto.

He reduced that gap to 0.179s before pitting, but was shuffled down to third as Belov went fastest with a 1m39.867s set with four minutes to go.

There was even more change in the final two minuts, with Prema’s Lorenzo Fluxa and R-ace GP’s Martinius Stenshorne rising to third and fourth place, resulting in a top 14 covered by a second.

Test results