Wendlinger and Beretta back at the top

During today's free practice sessions at theHungaroring, Wendlinger was fastest round the 3.9km track, setting a time of 1:39.081 in his Oreca Chrysler Viper.

After two victories and one second place his car is now carrying 70kg penalty weight.

'You can really feel it under braking and in the reaction speed,' the former F1 Sauber driver said.

'The car is very good, although we're still looking for the final settings.'

Championship leader Jean-Philippe Belloc, sharing the number 2 Oreca Viper with Le Mans winner Dominique Dupuy, was third fastest in the afternoon.

This is his first visit to the Hungarian track, and he admitted that he did not expect to hang on to his lead, now that Beretta and Wendlinger were back, fresh from their Mosport ALMS GTS victory.

With the Lister team not making the trip, the Porsches will be the main opponents of the Viper cars - and last year, the Hungarian round gave a Porsche car its only victory in the season.

The Roock Racing Porsche 911GT2 cars were performing well today, with Stéphane Ortelli setting the
second fastest time.

There were problems today for Cor Euser's Marcos LM600, which stopped by the side of the track when the belt came off the water pump.

The Seikel Porsche was also damaged when the number 22 Paul Belmondo Racing Viper, driven at
the time by Wolfgang Widman, missed the braking point at the chicane and slammed into the Porsche.

Qualifying takes place tomorrow for Sunday's 500km race.