PRACTICE: Slater makes fast start to Budapest weekend

Freddie Slater ended the Budapest Free Practice at the top of the timesheets with a 1:33.947.

The TRIDENT driver led the way by over a tenth from Brando Badoer, with his Rodin Motorsport teammate just behind in third.

Woohyun Shin was the first driver out on track in the early stages. He completed a 1:36.472 but that time was deleted after he exceeded track limits at Turn 9.

10 minutes into the session and the rest of the field – apart from the three Rodin Motorsport cars – made their way out of the pitlane.

Ugo Ugochukwu set the pace with a 1:34.798 eclipsing title rival Slater in P2 by just 0.052s.

With 26 minutes left, Rodin released their drivers out on track, while Matteo De Palo returned to the pitlane with damage after going off at the exit of Turn 7.

Moments later, Salim Hanna found the barrier at Turn 5 bringing out the Red Flags.

The session resumed with 12 minutes to go and once again Ugochukwu led the way with a 1:34.522, with Slater in P2, 0.180s behind.

On his next lap, Hitech’s Jin Nakamura took over at the top with a 1:34.360.

However, Slater went back to P1 with a 1:33.947, eclipsing Rodin’s BadoerBadoer’s time by 0.135s.

It was not all good news for TRIDENT however, as Noah Stromsted stopped on the run to Turn 12, bringing out the Red Flags.

That brought the session to a close with Slater on top for a fourth consecutive Practice session, ahead of Badoer and Pedro Clerot.

Nakamura was P4 ahead of Théophile Nael and Enzo Deligny. Nicola Lacorte finished seventh ahead of Ugochukwu, with Mattia Colnaghi in ninth as Maciej Gladysz rounded out the top 10.

The drivers will be back out on track for Qualifying later today at 15:00 local time.