Hungaroring Auto GP: Vittorio Ghirelli carries dominant form to pole

The 18-year-old Italian, a Formula Renault 3.5 convert, has threatened to achieve a notable result in recent races, and set a worthy fastest lap in Marrakech last month.

Buoyed by recording the fastest time in every preceding Auto GP session at the Hungaroring this weekend, Ghirelli took command in qualifying.

The Super Nova charge sat out the final two minutes in the pits, after establishing a solid 0.588-second advantage over second placed Tamas Pal Kiss.

Ghirelli's confidence proved well founded as the order remained unchanged during the final laps and he claimed his first pole in car racing.

"I have had a slight fuel pressure issue during the weekend," he said.

"Before changing my tyres [in qualifying] I heard a whirring noise start up again so decided to pit.

"I was fastest throughout and knew I had done a good lap so I was happy to wait.

"Now I want to make sure we take this opportunity and win tomorrow."

Auto GP debutant Kiss retained his commendable second position in the classification at the chequered flag.

In contrast to the local star, championship leader Kimiya Sato had no prior experience of the circuit before Friday's test, and took time to gather speed over the weekend.

Sato will head the second row for Sunday's opening Auto GP race, after qualifying four tenths faster than Manor MP Motorsport's Riccardo Agostini.

The reigning Italian Formula 3 champion forms a buffer between the Japanese and his closest rival in the drivers' standings, Sergio Campana.

Auto GP rookie Meindert van Buuren claimed a respectable sixth, ahead of former Jordan and HRT Formula 1 driver Narain Karthikeyan, who reported suffering slightly too much roll in his Zele Racing Lola during final practice.

Double 2013 victor Campana was the first driver to break into the 1m34s in qualifying, seven minutes into the session.

GP2 man Daniel de Jong and Sato briefly took turns at the head of the timing screens, before Campana again grasped provisional pole.

The incremental improvements were put into perspective when Ghirelli made a huge stride in performance a third of the way into qualifying by setting a 1m32.951s.

Kiss established himself in second position moments later, but was unable to mount a serious assault on pole.

Ghirelli put the benchmark time further from reach by finding further gains three minutes before the chequered flag.

Pos  Driver               Team         Time       Gap
 1.  Vittorio Ghirelli    Super Nova   1m32.589s
 2.  Tamas Pal Kiss       MLR 71       1m33.177s  + 0.588s
 3.  Kimiya Sato          Euronova     1m33.263s  + 0.674s
 4.  Riccardo Agostini    Manor MP     1m33.730s  + 1.141s
 5.  Sergio Campana       Ibiza        1m33.926s  + 1.337s
 6.  Meindert van Buuren  Manor MP     1m34.019s  + 1.430s
 7.  Narain Karthikeyan   Zele         1m34.100s  + 1.511s
 8.  Daniel de Jong       Manor MP     1m34.273s  + 1.684s
 9.  Robert Visoiu        Ghinzani     1m34.336s  + 1.747s
10.  Luciano Bacheta      Zele         1m34.674s  + 2.085s
11.  Yoshitaka Kuroda     Euronova     1m34.817s  + 2.228s
12.  Maxim Snegirev       Virtuosi UK  1m35.089s  + 2.500s
13.  Andrea Roda          Virtuosi UK  1m35.207s  + 2.618s
14.  Francesco Dracone    Super Nova   1m35.963s  + 3.374s
15.  Giuseppe Cipriani    Ibiza        1m36.062s  + 3.473s
16.  Michele La Rosa      MLR 71       1m43.735s  + 11.146s