Home News Negrao claims pole in rain-drenched Hungaroring qualifying

Negrao claims pole in rain-drenched Hungaroring qualifying

by Peter Allen
Andre Negrao

Photo: Renault Sport/DPPI

Andre Negrao has claimed his first pole position in Formula Renault 3.5 after managing the fastest time in a session that was interrupted numerous times at a soaking Hungaroring.

The conditions were treacherous from the start, with Norman Nato and Jazeman Jaafar both ending up in the gravel at the same point on their out laps.

Organisers ran the session under full yellow flags to begin with to allow the drivers to get some laps in the conditions after Friday’s dry practice running, but no sooner had the track gone green did Arthur Pic go off and bring out the red flags.

After the restart, four drivers managed to get times on the board before Zoel Amberg caused another stoppage. Friday pace-setter Carlos Sainz brought out more red flags with six minutes left on the clock, by which time Negrao had got to the top of the timing screens.

Sainz’s Zeta Corse team-mate Will Buller brought out a fourth and final red flag shortly afterwards, with the session not being restarted with four minutes left on the clock.

That left Negrao in first place, 1.333 seconds ahead of his Draco team-mate Nico Muller.

Series veteran Mihail Aleshin was third ahead of Antonio Felix da Costa, who survived a spin at the final corner. Will Stevens was fifth ahead of?Sergey Sirotkin,?Marlon Stockinger and Pietro Fantin, while Nigel Melker and?Matias Laine completed the top ten.

Stoffel Vandoorne ended up 11th, six seconds slower than Negrao while points leader Kevin Magnussen was 16th, nearly nine seconds adrift.

Qualifying times
Pos Driver? Team Time? Gap ?Laps?
1 Andre Negrao International Draco Racing 2:04.492 11
2 Nico Muller International Draco Racing 2:05.825 1.333 12
3 Mikhail Aleshin Tech 1 Racing 2:06.059 1.567 13
4 Antonio Felix da Costa Arden Caterham 2:07.164 2.672 13
5 Will Stevens P1 by Strakka Racing 2:07.164 2.672 12
6 Sergey Sirotkin ISR 2:07.365 2.873 11
7 Marlon Stockinger Lotus 2:07.970 3.478 10
8 Pietro Fantin Arden Caterham 2:08.603 4.111 13
9 Nigel Melker Tech 1 Racing 2:09.656 5.164 13
10 Matias Laine P1 by Strakka Racing 2:10.669 6.177 12
11 Stoffel Vandoorne Fortec Motorsports 2:10.716 6.224 13
12 Oliver Webb Fortec Motorsports 2:10.901 6.409 12
13 Daniil Move SMP Racing by Comtec 2:10.904 6.412 10
14 Christopher Zanella ISR 2:10.992 6.500 9
15 Yann Cunha AV Formula 2:11.335 6.843 12
  Kevin Magnussen DAMS 2:13.485 8.993 12
  Carlos Huertas Carlin 2:14.263 9.771 12
  Nikolay Martsenko Pons Racing 2:14.741 10.249 11
  Lucas Foresti SMP Racing by Comtec 2:17.499 13.007 10
  Marco Sorensen Lotus 2:25.760 21.268 12
  Jazeman Jaafar Carlin No time   12
  Norman Nato DAMS No time   12
  William Buller Zeta Corse No time   12
  Carlos Sainz Zeta Corse No time   12
  Zoel Amberg Pons Racing No time   12
  Arthur Pic AV Formula No time   12