PREMA Racing’s Zak O’Sullivan took the pole position in Hungary with improvements in the final moments of the Qualifying session, just 0.403 ahead of his teammate Dino Beganovic.
The rain had fallen since the free practice session, but a dry line was slowly emerging, leading to a mix of tire choices at the start of the session.
Once the green lights went out, Leonardo Fornaroli and Gabriel Bortoleto opted for wet tires and quickly capitalized on the conditions, setting the early pace. Meanwhile, Max Esterson faced a spin out of Turn 2 on his dry medium tires but recovered and got back into the action.
As the track dried up, those on dry tires began to gain an advantage, and times started to tumble. Caio Collet momentarily claimed the fastest time with a 1:45.726 before a red flag disrupted the session. Rodin Carlin’s Oliver Gray had an incident, hitting the barriers at Turn 3, but fortunately, he managed to reverse off the grass and return to the pits safely.
After the brief pause, the green flag waved again with 20 minutes to go. Trident’s Oliver Goethe showcased his pace, setting the quickest time ahead of Nikola Tsolov and Paul Aron.
With the clock ticking down, Campos Racing’s Josep Maria Marti emerged at the top of the timesheets with a blistering lap time of 1:34.144, ahead of Zak O’Sullivan and Gabriel Bortoleto. However, the ever-changing track conditions and drivers’ quick improvements saw Marti drop down to 22nd.
Once the DRS was enabled, Hugh Barter seized the opportunity to snatch the lead from Marti, but his reign at the top was short-lived as Mari Boya set an even faster time. The battle for pole position intensified, with several drivers exchanging the fastest laps.
However, PREMA Racing’s Zak O’Sullivan managed to secure the top spot with an impressive lap time of 1:31.091. His teammate, Dino Beganovic, secured second place, showing the team’s dominance in the session. Leonardo Fornaroli put in a solid performance to clinch the fourth position for Trident.
MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto took fifth, followed closely by Trident’s Oliver Goethe in sixth. Paul Aron secured seventh for PREMA Racing as ART’s Nikola Tsolov claimed eighth. The competition was fierce, with Jonny Edgar from MP Motorsport, Gabriel Bortoleto from Trident, and Christian Mansell from Campos Racing completing the top ten, separated by less than one-hundredth of a second.
Marti, who had held pole position for a while, ended up in 13th place when the chequered flag waved.
The Sprint Race will emerge at 09:50 local time as Gabriele Mini will start on the reverse grid pole alongside Nikita Bedrin on the front row.
