Swiss ahead of Mirocha and Marinescu in sun-soaked session

Alex Fontana got his Hungaroring weekend off to the best possible start by topping the timesheets during today’s (Friday) opening Formula Two practice, needing just one five-lap run to come away with the top spot ahead of Kevin Mirocha and Mihai Marinescu.

The 20-year-old Swiss/Greek racer posted a best time of 1:34.787s late in the 45-minute session to outpace his nearest rival by +0.187s – three tenths up on yesterday’s leading test time.

With a full day’s running already under their belts, understandably several drivers were slow to take to the track with Briton’s Daniel McKenzie, currently lying seventh in the standings, the only man to post a competitive time in the early stages. He was eventually joined by the rest of the field with Mihai Marinescu, competing on his adopted home circuit, going top before the Romanian ended third overall.

Yesterday’s pace-setter Christopher Zanella looked threatening for much of the session but could only manage fourth ahead of German Markus Pommer and Swiss teenager Mathéo Tuscher

Zimbabwean Axcil Jefferies impressed to finish seventh – one of his best performances of the year so far – ahead of championship leader Luciano Bacheta who is still yet to fully get to grips with the 4.381km Budapest track. McKenzie ended ninth ahead of Chinese racer David Zhu while newcomer Richard Gonda, who finished sixth during official pre-event testing, ending 12th.

Today’s second practice session gets underway at 15:45 (local time) with full coverage on the F2 website.

F2 Results: Hungaroring – Practice 1:

1. Alex Fontana, 1:34.787s
2. Kevin Mirocha, +0.187s
3. Mihai Marinescu, +0.238s
4. Christopher Zanella, +0.397s
5. Markus Pommer, +0.634s
6. Mathéo Tuscher, +0.647s
7. Axcil Jefferies, +0.706s
8. Luciano Bacheta, +0.761s
9. Daniel McKenzie, +1.038s
10. David Zhu, +1.277s
11. Hector Hurst, +1.554s
12. Richard Gonda, +1.617s
13. Plamen Kralev, +1.887s
14. Max Snegirev, +2.187s
15. Dino Zamparelli, –