Home Formula 2 Stoffel Vandoorne tops GP2 practice in Hungary

Stoffel Vandoorne tops GP2 practice in Hungary

by Peter Allen
Stoffel Vandoorne

Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP2 Series Media Service

Stoffel Vandoorne set the pace in free practice for the seventh round of the GP2 season at the Hungaroring.

Vandoorne, who has scored four podiums in the last six races, managed a best time of 1m29.479s. That put him 0.061s clear of second-placed Felipe Nasr.

The DAMS duo of Stephane Richelmi and Jolyon Palmer were third and fourth, split by 0.039s. Championship leader Palmer was involved in the most dramatic moment of the session, when Johnny Cecotto locked up at turn two and careered over the front-left wheel of Palmer, who had moved to the outside of the corner to give way. Both suffered front end damage, but Palmer’s car was repaired in time to rejoin the action before the end.

Cecotto, who is under investigation for the incident, finished with the sixth fastest time, behind double feature race winner Mitch Evans. Kimiya Sato was seventh on his return with Campos after missing last weekend’s races at Hockenheim due to a clashing Auto GP event. The Japanese driver won both of the Auto GP races at the Hungarian circuit in May.

Rapax pairing Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and Simon Trummer were eighth and ninth with Daniel De Jong in tenth.

Racing Engineering drivers Stefano Coletti and Raffaele Marciello were 19th and 20th respectively, over a second off the pace.

Session results
Pos Driver? Team Time? Gap Laps?
1 Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:29.479 19
2 Felipe Nasr Carlin 1:29.540 0.061 21
3 Stephane Richelmi DAMS 1:29.838 0.359 20
4 Jolyon Palmer DAMS 1:29.877 0.398 14
5 Mitch Evans Russian Time 1:29.950 0.471 19
6 Johnny Cecotto Trident 1:29.989 0.510 12
7 Kimiya Sato Campos Racing 1:30.039 0.560 21
8 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 1:30.046 0.567 20
9 Simon Trummer Rapax 1:30.098 0.619 20
10 Daniel de Jong MP Motorsport 1:30.164 0.685 19
11 Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:30.244 0.765 19
12 Sergio Canamasas Trident 1:30.254 0.775 17
13 Tom Dillmann EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:30.282 0.803 19
14 Andre Negrao Arden International 1:30.404 0.925 18
15 Marco Sorensen MP Motorsport 1:30.415 0.936 20
16 Rio Haryanto EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:30.438 0.959 17
17 Conor Daly Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:30.453 0.974 14
18 Nathanael Berthon Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:30.507 1.028 21
19 Stefano Coletti Racing Engineering 1:30.512 1.033 19
20 Raffaele Marciello Racing Engineering 1:30.691 1.212 20
21 Daniel Abt Hilmer Motorsport 1:30.718 1.239 19
22 Julian Leal Carlin 1:30.807 1.328 19
23 Rene Binder Arden International 1:31.005 1.526 19
24 Jon Lancaster Hilmer Motorsport 1:31.178 1.699 19
25 Takuya Izawa ART Grand Prix 1:31.182 1.703 18
26 Artem Markelov Russian Time 1:31.195 1.716 19