Friday at the Hungaroring

21. June 2019Most of the teams arrived at the Hungaroring, situated to the east of Budapest, on Wednesday afternoon itself. No sooner had they all made it into the paddock than the heavens opened and it bucketed down on them. On the journey here, they’d braved a few scattered cloudbursts and thunderstorms, but the sun always won out in the end. The changeable weather dominated discussions on Thursday, but today there was no time for anything but business. The track burst into colour shortly before noon with the first VIP and press rides in radiant sunshine. The sound of thunder was no harbinger of rain but the roar of raw horsepower, some of the trucks pushing 1,300 hp.
But not one of them would really get into a swing, even in supplementary free practice – there were too many interruptions because of stalled trucks or slicks across the tarmac, and the average lap times were way above those from last year.
First free practice in the evening was no different. The track temperatures were extreme, and the drivers reported a distinct loss of grip. Defending champ Jochen Hahn was the only one to go under 2:20. His 2:19.425 was, nevertheless, more than a second slower than his time here last year, when six other trucks had also gone under 2:20.

Impressions: