Arthur Leclerc enjoyed a dramatic turn of form in Qualifying, beating Championship leader Dennis Hauger to first place in Budapest for his maiden pole position.
The Monegasque had never previously qualified higher than ninth, but soared to P1 at the Hungaroring with a 1:33.164. Hauger missed out by just 0.089 seconds, while Trident’s Jack Doohan was only 0.096 seconds off himself. At the end of the session, Hauger had one final attempt at beating his teammate to pole and despite struggling for grip, the Norwegian was able to haul his PREMA up to second place with seconds to spare.
Trident’s trio of Doohan, Clement Novalak and David Schumacher all dropped a place following Hauger’s late lap, while the fastest man from Free Practice, Alex Smolyar, beat his ART Grand Prix teammate, Frederik Vesti to sixth. Logan Sargeant finished in eighth ahead of Olli Caldwell. Ayumu Iwasa qualified tenth, ahead of Lorenzo Colombo and Jonny Edgar, who will start Saturday’s reverse grid Race 1 from pole position.
The first race is at 09:25 BST on Saturday.