Saturday’s program at Hungaroring started with two qualifying races and we saw an exciting fight between Sprint racers. The drivers in both categories – up-to 2000 ccm and above 2000 ccm wanted to get the first pole position of the season.
Despite the sunny weather at Hungaroring on Friday, it was still possible to find isolated patches of snow in the vicinity of the circuit. The next day, the temperatures got a bit higher but the sky was cloudy.
The qualification for sprint race (above 2000 ccm) began with a great struggle to win the first pole position of the season. Two BMWs M6 GT3 of Šenkýř Motorsport team and Trevor Racing team were taking turns at the lead – together with Porsche 991 GT3R of Polish team Olimp Racing.
Once, even Knoll got the lead, after him, it was Jedlinski. Finally, the best time – 1:44,188 was achieved by Malchárek. Nobody could do it better than him. Jakub Knoll had the second fastest time – just 0.8 of a second behind his Slovak rival. Thus, it was decided that the top of the starting grid would be taken by two special M6 GT3. The third position was gained by Marcin Jedlinski from Porsche Olim Racing team. However, his results were deleted three times because he did not respect the circuit limits.
“I have many reasons to be happy. I’ve won the qualification but also, I will share the race again with my son Christian. We made a huge progress during yesterday’s test. We spent a lot of time on the track and we were adjusting the car a lot. In addition, we have some excellent engineers from Karel Neffe from Prague. I am satisfied and we may go on racing,“ said the qualification winner Jirko Malchárek.
The fourth place – together with victory in D5 was taken by Václav Janík who raced with brand new Norma M20 FC. Among the TOP 5 was also Richard Chlad jun. with Audi R8 LMS Ultra. Petr Kačírek with BMW Z4 GT3 (Šenkýř Motorsport) lost only 0.27 of a second behind Chlad.
On the other hand, Serbian Zoran Kastratović did not let anybody to doubt the he was the king of Hungaroring in the category of up-to 2000 cccm. He was more than two seconds ahead of Petr Mandelík (KT Motorsport) who was followed by his team mate Petr Krejčí on Lotus Exige.
“Even though the qualification was unfortunately interrupted several times, it still feels great to be back in the racing car after winter. I hope I will have the same luck in the race and I will stand on the winners podium,” said Zoran Kastratović.
Výsledky kvalifikace Sprint nad 2000 ccm
Výsledky kvalifikace Sprint do 2000 ccm
Photo: Ondřej Laušman/FIA CEZ
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