30/07/2010
NEWS STORY
Jenzer Motorsport's Nico Muller was back on form claiming the top spot in today's practice session at Hungaroring.
The Swiss driver set his best time of 1:38.181 in the final minutes of an almost trouble-free session in hot conditions, but it was ART's Esteban Gutierrez and Status GP's Robert Wickens who were the early pace setters along with Muller's teammates Pal Varhaug and Marco Barber. Tech 1 Racing's Doru Sechelariu was also on the pace early.
Unlike Germany last week when free practice was incident-packed, this time around the thirty-minute session was almost drama-free except for in the final few minutes when newcomer Antonio Feliz Da Costa spun his Carlin car at turn 1 and hit the tyre wall without physical harm. Muller stayed on top unchallenged at the end of the session, with teammate Pal Varhaug finishing three tenths of a second behind. Although quick once again, series leader Gutierrez couldn't catch the pace-setters and settled for third best time ahead of his rival and Hockenheim race winner Wickens.
For his first time out in a GP3 car, Jenzer's Marko Barba made an impressive debut filling in for injured driver Simon Trummer, and finished the session with the fifth best lap time. Addax Team's Felipe Guimaraes was sixth quickest, followed by Manor Racing's Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, Stefano Coletti (Tech 1 Racing), Carlin's Dean Smith and rounding out the top ten was Coletti's teammate Doru Sechelariu.