Rodin’s Pradel and Pulling lead GB3 test pace at Hungaroring

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Gianmarco Pradel led a Rodin Motorsport one-two during Thursday’s pre-event GB3 testing at the Hungaroring.

Pradel was one of many drivers to post his best time during the first of two sessions, and he ended the test 0.294 seconds clear of his team-mate Abbi Pulling. Xcel Motorsport’s Patrick Huezenroeder was within half a second of the pace in third.

Rodin’s points leader Alex Ninovic registered the first the flying lap in the opening session, and his time was was quickly beaten by Pradel and Hitech GP’s Keanu Al Azhari.

Ninovic improved by 0.8s on his next lap to reclaim top spot, and then found a further 1.7s to lower the pace to 1m41.008s before Pradel again swiftly displaced him with an even faster 1m40.963s.

Hitech’s Deagen Fairclough and Velocity Racing’s Hugo Schwarze eclipsed the Australian duo moments later, Pradel responded by going quickest once more, but it was Al Azhari who led at the 10-minute mark with a 1m40.437s.

Pradel moved back ahead by 0.4s approaching the halfway mark and made two further improvements to end the morning’s running quickest with what would prove a test-topping 1m38.327s.

Pulling was running a new car after damage was discovered to her original chassis – suspected to have occurred during her race three crash at Silverstone earlier in the season – and she used it to good effect by setting a new personal best late on to edge out Heuzenroeder to second by 0.170s.

Schwarze was shuffled back to fourth despite making a late improvement, with Argenti with Prema’s Reza Seewooruthun 0.065 behind. Fairclough and Al Alzhari slipped to seventh and eighth, while Seewooruthun’s team-mate Yuanpu Cui was the final driver within a second of the outright pace.

Ninovic was one of the only two drivers – the other being Elite Motorsport’s Bianca Bustamante – to record a new personal best in the afternoon. He ended session two second fastest behind Al Azhari, and improved to 11th in the combined classification.

Only 16 drivers took part in testing, as several part-timers including Freddie Slater are competing in Formula Regional Europe this weekend at the same venue. Hitech’s Nikita Johnson is also absent, as he has confirmed he will make his second FIA Formula 3 appearance for the team at Silverstone instead.

Test results