Edgar says he won’t be ‘risking a crash’ in pursuit of a maiden win

Despite starting from reverse grid pole, Jonny Edgar says he won’t be going all out for glory, insisting that securing a podium would be much more beneficial to his championship aims than risking it all for victory.

The last time that Edgar started from pole was in the opening race of the season, after qualifying 12th. Unable to keep up with the more experienced competitors around him, he crossed the line in fifth, with second-year ART Grand Prix racer Alex Smolyar clinching the first.

This time around, he’ll line up ahead of fellow rookie Lorenzo Colombo, and although he’d love a maiden win, the Briton says he’d be satisfied with a top-three finish.

"There's a chance of rain so we'll just have to see because that would make it easier to overtake,” said Edgar. “If it's a dry race the most important thing is to try and get a good start and lead into Turn 1. If I can lead after the first lap, around here the tyre wear is usually quite bad when following a car.

“After that, we'll have to see if I drop back a little bit. I wouldn't want to but sometimes you have to let someone go if they have a bit more pace, rather than risking a crash. It'd be nice to win, but also just a podium would be really good."

After two rounds of failing to qualify inside of the top 12, Edgar was delighted to match his best result in the session and provide himself with the foundations to fight for points.

Given the lack of space around the Hungaroring, Edgar believes that the team’s work in gaining him track position was as key to the result as their improved one-lap pace.

“This track is really bad for traffic,” said Edgar. “Going onto the lap you have to slow down a lot but, especially on my last run. We had really good track positioning so that helped - the team sent me out in a really good place.

“I'm pretty happy. Top 12 was my aim going into the weekend. I managed to do it in Barcelona but then Paul Ricard and Red Bull Ring I couldn't, but I think I am learning and improving in Qualifying.

“I had a bit of a mistake in Sector 1 on my lap, so I didn't know if it was going to be possible, but the rest of the lap was all pretty good. I managed to gain quite a lot of time back and ended up P12 with pole tomorrow."