Palou tops second Euro F3 Hungaroring test day for Hitech GP
Versatile single-seater ace Alex Palou topped the times on the second day of Formula 3 European Championship pre-season testing at the Hungaroring for Hitech GP
The 20-year-old, who was third in last season's Japanese F3 championship and also competed in Formula 2 and Formula V8 3.5 in 2017, finished the day way ahead of the opposition.
Palou set the day's best time in the morning session, which he topped by a significant 0.274-seconds from Hitech team-mate Enaam Ahmed.
Palou's superiority seemed to come in the twists of the final sector, where he was a long way clear of his rivals.
Some late runs in the afternoon session propelled Ahmed and Palou to the top two positions again, with the reigning BRDC British F3 champion this time topping the order by 0.032s.
Ahmed's afternoon time narrowed the overall deficit for the day to Palou to 0.226s, although Palou's morning lap fell 0.004s short of the effort recorded by Mick Schumacher in topping the first day of testing on Thursday.
Prema Powerteam was hard on the heels of the leading Hitech pair, with Ralf Aron setting the team's overall best in the morning to go third quickest ahead of Schumacher.
Toyota Racing Series champion and Ferrari protege Robert Shwartzman made a strong improvement in the afternoon session, in which he was third fastest to end up fifth overall on the day, narrowly ahead of Prema team-mate Guan Yu Zhou.
Sacha Fenestraz was the best of the Carlin sextet, as the reigning Formula Renault Eurocup champion ended the day seventh overall. Hitech's form extended to Ben Hingeley, who was fifth in the afternoon and eighth on the day.
Rounding out the top 10 overall were another Prema/Ferrari driver, Marcus Armstrong, and leading Motopark contender Sebastian Fernandez.
Motopark's Macau Grand Prix winner and Red Bull Junior Dan Ticktum was in the midfield in both sessions, although he topped the times in the relatively fast opening sector in both periods.
Morning times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Palou | Hitech Grand Prix | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m34.308s | - | 50 |
| 2 | Enaam Ahmed | Hitech Grand Prix | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m34.582s | 0.274s | 54 |
| 3 | Ralf Aron | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m34.624s | 0.316s | 40 |
| 4 | Mick Schumacher | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m34.651s | 0.343s | 35 |
| 5 | Sacha Fenestraz | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m34.740s | 0.432s | 38 |
| 6 | Guanyu Zhou | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m34.806s | 0.498s | 36 |
| 7 | Marcus Armstrong | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m34.881s | 0.573s | 46 |
| 8 | Ben Hingeley | Hitech Grand Prix | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m34.890s | 0.582s | 52 |
| 9 | Sebastian Fernandez | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m34.946s | 0.638s | 24 |
| 10 | Fabio Scherer | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m34.951s | 0.643s | 34 |
| 11 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m34.961s | 0.653s | 37 |
| 12 | Jonathan Aberdein | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m34.964s | 0.656s | 29 |
| 13 | Dan Ticktum | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.004s | 0.696s | 23 |
| 14 | Juri Vips | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.010s | 0.702s | 34 |
| 15 | Artem Petrov | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m35.046s | 0.738s | 25 |
| 16 | Ferdinand Habsburg | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.232s | 0.924s | 37 |
| 17 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.253s | 0.945s | 37 |
| 18 | Devlin Defrancesco | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.452s | 1.144s | 38 |
| 19 | Ameya Vaidyanathan | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.458s | 1.150s | 36 |
| 20 | Nikita Troitskiy | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.467s | 1.159s | 35 |
| 21 | Marino Sato | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.609s | 1.301s | 41 |
| 22 | Julian Hanses | ma-con | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.840s | 1.532s | 37 |
| 23 | Keyvan Andres | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m36.528s | 2.220s | 37 |
Afternoon times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enaam Ahmed | Hitech Grand Prix | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m34.534s | - | 36 |
| 2 | Alex Palou | Hitech Grand Prix | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m34.566s | 0.032s | 30 |
| 3 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m34.700s | 0.166s | 37 |
| 4 | Guanyu Zhou | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m34.707s | 0.173s | 39 |
| 5 | Ben Hingeley | Hitech Grand Prix | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m34.778s | 0.244s | 50 |
| 6 | Ralf Aron | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m34.851s | 0.317s | 48 |
| 7 | Mick Schumacher | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m34.897s | 0.363s | 47 |
| 8 | Artem Petrov | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m35.047s | 0.513s | 41 |
| 9 | Marcus Armstrong | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m35.054s | 0.520s | 47 |
| 10 | Sacha Fenestraz | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.068s | 0.534s | 32 |
| 11 | Marino Sato | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.274s | 0.740s | 30 |
| 12 | Sebastian Fernandez | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.333s | 0.799s | 40 |
| 13 | Fabio Scherer | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.380s | 0.846s | 48 |
| 14 | Juri Vips | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.425s | 0.891s | 33 |
| 15 | Ferdinand Habsburg | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.426s | 0.892s | 31 |
| 16 | Dan Ticktum | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.451s | 0.917s | 20 |
| 17 | Keyvan Andres | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m35.476s | 0.942s | 34 |
| 18 | Julian Hanses | ma-con | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.512s | 0.978s | 31 |
| 19 | Ameya Vaidyanathan | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.589s | 1.055s | 32 |
| 20 | Jonathan Aberdein | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.599s | 1.065s | 17 |
| 21 | Nikita Troitskiy | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.677s | 1.143s | 31 |
| 22 | Devlin Defrancesco | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.812s | 1.278s | 31 |
| 23 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m35.820s | 1.286s | 29 |
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