Tom Dillmann secured pole position for the opening race at the Hungaroring in dominant fashion, beating the rest of the field by more than six-tenths of a second.
The AVF driver set a best time of 1m26.729s to lead an all-French driver front row, with Aurélien Panis taking the second front row slot for Arden Motorsport, albeit 0.642s back on Dillmann’s excellent time.
The resurfaced track in 2016 meant times were much quicker than when the championship raced here in 2015, with Dillmann’s pole time 2.138s faster than Oliver Rowland’s best time set at the circuit last June.
Louis Deletraz was third fastest for Fortec Motorsports, with the Renault Sport Academy driver just 0.026s back on Panis, while Johnny Cecotto Jr placed fourth for RP Motorsport, another 0.108s behind Deletraz.
SMP Racing’s Matthieu Vaxiviere was fifth ahead of the second AVF of Sahara Force India reserve driver Alfonso Celis Jr, while Matevos Isaakyan, the youngest driver in the field qualified seventh in the second SMP Racing entry.
Roy Nissany ended the session in eighth for Lotus, while Teo Martin Motorsport duo Yu Kanamaru and Beitske Visser completed the top ten, 1.095s and 1.197s back on Dillmann’s pole time.
Hungaroring Race 1 Qualifying Times
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