PRACTICE: Câmara and TRIDENT hit the ground running around the Hungaroring

Rafael Câmara kicked off the weekend in which he could clinch the title in the perfect way, topping Free Practice for TRIDENT with a 1:33.888.

Brad Benavides and Roman Bilinski were two late improvers to wind up second and third quickest, before a late Red Flag for title contender Nikola Tsolov, who came to a halt in his Campos Racing #12 car, ended the session.

After waiting for improved track conditions, the majority of cars took to the track with 10 minutes gone and it was Gerrard Xie that led the way on a 1:36.476 for Hitech TGR.

Tim Tramnitz lowered the benchmark to a 1:34.619 for MP Motorsport with under half an hour to go, as Mari Boya settled into second 0.2s down on that.

Câmara then leapt to the top of the times on a 1:34.138 to go 0.481s clear of anybody with his first flying lap of the day, before title rival Tsolov moved up to second, cutting the gap to 0.3s.

Ugo Ugochukwu lifted PREMA Racing up to third with just over 20 minutes to go, slotting in behind Tsolov. Charlie Wurz was the next to break into the top five, putting TRIDENT 1-2 as he went within 0.263s of his teammate.

The next set of improvements came with 10 minutes left on the clock, with Câmara lowering the time to beat to a 1:33.888. Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak went to P2 in his Campos, 0.4s off the Brazilian’s P1 time, with Noah Stromsted third a further 0.015s down.

Into the final six minutes and Bilinski cut the deficit to Câmara to 0.2s, before Benavides went to P2 for AIX Racing, just 0.064s off the top spot.

The Red Flags were then deployed after Tsolov came to a halt ahead of Turn 12. With three minutes left of Practice, the session was not resumed.

The FIA Formula 3 Qualifying session is set to get underway later on Friday at 15:00 local time.