With outside temperatures of 30 degrees Centigrade, the young drivers from the FIA Formula 3 European Championship got their second race weekend of the 2018 season underway at the 4.381 kilometres long Hungaroring. Guanyu Zhou (PREMA Theodore Racing, 1m36.238s) coped best with the conditions and was classified first in free practice. Mick Schumacher (PREMA Theodore Racing, 1m36.289s), Daniel Ticktum (Motopark, 1m36.343s) and Marcus Armstrong (PREMA Theodore Racing, 1m36.461s) as the best-placed rookie ended up in second to fourth place.
Three weeks ago, Guanyu Zhou scored his maiden FIA Formula 3 European Championship race win at Pau in the south of France. At the Hungaroring today, he confirmed his good form by claiming first place in free practice. The Chinese, a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, was 0.051 seconds faster than his teammate Mick Schumacher, who had already posted a fastest time of the day in official pre-season testing at the same venue. Behind Red Bull junior driver Daniel Ticktum in third, two further Prema drivers, both also with Ferrari backing, followed in fourth and fifth place with Marcus Armstrong and Robert Shvartzman (PREMA Theodore Racing, 1m36.475s).
The Hitech Bullfrog GP team locked out sixth to eighth place with Ben Hingeley (1m36.524s), Alex Palou (1m36.584s) and Enaam Ahmed (1m36.642s) in that order. Jehan Daruvala (Carlin, 1m36.733s) a junior driver of the Force India Formula 1 team, was the best-placed representative of the Carlin team in ninth place ahead of Ralf Aron (PREMA Theodore Racing, 1m36.793s), who rounded out the top ten.
In Budapest, Petru Florescu (Fortec Motorsports, 1m38.667s) is competing for the first time in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship this season. Last year, the 19-year-old Romanian already raced at the Nürburgring and in Spielberg and ended up 24that his comeback.
