Münnich Motorsport’s Rob Huff set the pace in first practice for the World Touring Car Championship at the Hungaroring with a lap that put him just under a tenth of a second clear of Honda’s Tiago Monteiro.
Whilst the session started on a dry track, light rain soon set in causing the initial times to be the ones which stayed as the benchmark for longer than usual, with Monteiro setting the early pace with a lap of 1:53.058.
Volvo’s Nicky Catsburg then went faster approaching the 20-minute mark as the track began to dry out, with Huff then rising to the top of the times after 25 minutes with his best lap of 1 minute 50.609 seconds.
The Brit wouldn’t go any quicker thereafter, but he held on to the top time for the final 20 minutes of the session, with Monteiro also staying in second.
Huff’s top time comes despite the Citroën cars being handed a last-minute additional 10 kg of compensation weight ahead of this weekend’s event, taking the C-Elysée to 60 kg, whilst the Honda and Volvos remain on 80 kg.
Third fastest at the chequered flag was Polestar Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk a further two tenths back, ahead of Campos Racing’s Esteban Guerrieri in fourth.
The second Volvo of Nicky Catsburg was fifth fastest, ahead of the leading Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën of Mehdi Bennani in sixth.
Tom Chilton was seventh fastest behind his team-mate, whilst eighth-quickest Néstor Girolami was the last of the drivers to be within a second of the pace in his Volvo.
Local favourite Norbert Michelisz, who the fans fill the grandstands to support, only completed eight laps and ended up as the second-slowest driver after an oil pressure issue on his Honda early in the session.
Second practice takes place at 11:30 CEST (10:30 BST), with qualifying following at 14:00 CEST (13:00 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 12 | Rob HUFF |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 14 | 1:50.609 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 17 | 1:50.676 | 0.067 |
| 3 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 14 | 1:50.885 | 0.276 |
| 4 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI |  |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 1:51.039 | 0.430 |
| 5 | 63 | Nicky CATSBURG |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 13 | 1:51.077 | 0.468 |
| 6 | 25 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 18 | 1:51.080 | 0.471 |
| 7 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 15 | 1:51.362 | 0.753 |
| 8 | 61 | Néstor GIROLAMI | |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 13 | 1:51.427 | 0.818 |
| 9 | 9 | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 1:51.791 | 1.182 |
| 10 | 34 | Ryo MICHIGAMI |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 15 | 1:52.231 | 1.622 |
| 11 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER |  |
RC Motorsport | LADA Vesta WTCC | 17 | 1:52.301 | 1.692 |
| 12 | 8 | Aurélien PANIS | |
Zengő Motorsport Kft | Honda Civic WTCC | 12 | 1:52.501 | 1.892 |
| 13 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 19 | 1:52.691 | 2.082 |
| 14 | 24 | Kevin GLEASON |  |
RC Motorsport | LADA Vesta WTCC | 15 | 1:53.148 | 2.539 |
| 15 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 8 | 1:55.820 | 5.211 |
| 16 | 99 | Dániel NAGY | |
Zengő Motorsport Kft | Honda Civic WTCC | 5 | 2:15.440 | 24.831 |