Taponen takes pole at Hungaroring in soaking wet FREC qualifying

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

R-ace GP’s Tuukka Taponen claimed pole for the first Formula Regional European Championship race at the Hungaroring in a soaking wet qualifying.

The first group of drivers was on track for less than a minute-and-a-half before red flags waved due to torrential rain and near-zero visibility once spray was kicked up.

It took 25 minutes, during which time marshals worked to clear water off the track, before it became dry enough for race control to restart the 15-minute session.

Prema duo Rafael Camara and Ugo Ugochukwu were fastest when the first flying laps were completed, while ART Grand Prix’s Evan Giltaire left it far later to leave the pits and on a clearer track beat both of them as he broke the two-minute barrier.

Ugochukwu reclaimed top spot on his next lap, setting a 1m58.114s, then on the lap after Giltaire went fastest again by 0.099 seconds. Leaving it even later to post laptimes on a drying track was his team-mate Alessandro Giusti, who lowered the pace to 1m57.510s on his fourth lap.

Yellow flags appeared in the final three minutes as MP Motorsport’s Valerio Rinicella went off, but he was able to rejoin, and with 70s left on the clock R-ace’s Zachary David put himself on provisional pole with a 1m57.202s. Ugochukwu improved in third, and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Pedro Clerot rose to fifth place in the group ahead of points leader Camara.

Several drivers were denied the chance to set personal bests as MP’s debuting Isaac Barashi spun exiting the chicane and led to more yellow flags being waved, but the improving conditions still left room for some to post personal bests and after the chequered flag waved Camara went third fastest.

He was knocked back down to fourth by Giltaire getting within 0.294s of David’s benchmark in second place, then Giusti just missed out on top spot with his final lap as he came 0.029s short of David’s pace.

Although Group B started off with a drier track, there was still early drama as KIC Motorsport’s debutant Yujia Gao went off.

Prema’s James Wharton set a 1m59.726s to lead the way at first, with R-ace’s Enzo Deligny lowering the pace to 1m58.889s on the second flying laps. After the third laps, his team-mate Taponen was top by 0.488s with a 1m57.184s and with pole all but secured as he had beaten the Group A benchmark and rain was also returning.

VAR’s Brando Badoer and Trident’s Ruiqi Liu were second and third with five minutes to go, but a minute later Liu was in sixth behind Sainteloc Racing’s Enzo Peugeot, Deligny and Wharton.

Taponen spun before pitting, while everyone else (bar Wharton) took the chequered flah but could not improve as the track got wetter.

Qualifying results