Mikel Azcona was unbeaten in the opening day of PURE ETCR track action at the Hungaroring, as the all-electric series delivered some exciting on-track battles.
Friday’s draw to decide which drivers would face against which put Augusto Farfus, John Filippi, Jordi Gené, Philipp Eng, series newcomer Luigi Ferrara and Mattias Ekström in Pool A. Farfus and Filippi would benefit from having the better inside line position for the start of their initial battles respectively.
Pool B would be battled out between Dániel Nagy, Tom Chilton, Rodrigo Baptista, Mikel Azcona, Jean-Karl Vernay and Luca Filippi, with Romeo Ferraris’ Baptista and Luca Filippi drawing themselves on the favourable inside line.
With power-ups returning to the fray for the more traditional Grand Prix circuit, the stage was set for more action than last time out on the streets of Copenhagen.
Round 1 – Battle 1/2
Pool A
Farfus, Gené and Eng contested the first battle of the weekend, which saw the starting agtes ditched for the first time this season following more teething issues last time out in Copenhagen.
The race started on the approach to Turn 12, with Farfus powering his Hyundai into the lead as Eng scrapped with Gené for second.
The run down to Turn 1 for the first time saw Eng claim the lead in his Alfa Romeo, as Gené too suffered a huge lockup and nearly careered into the back of Farfus, losing the CUPRA driver time.
Eng held the lead for the rest of the opening lap, although with Farfus close behind and Gené recovering to keep a tight trio.
Heading to Turn 2 on the second lap Farfus used his power-up to get on the outside of Eng, but the Austrian held his line and held on, before Farfus made another power-up pass on the run up to Turn 4, even taking to the grass in the move.
Farfus then held the lead for the rest of the race, despite Eng having a look at Turn 2 on the final lap, with a lockup scuppering his chances.
Eng claimed second ahead of Gené, who was a close third despite having dropped back on the opening tour.
The second battle pitted Filippi, Ferrara and Ekström against each other, with Filippi having the inside line for the start.
After a brief mis-start from the gantry lights, Filippi led into the first corner at Turn 13, but Ferrara was on the outside, giving him the inside for the next corner, where he duly seized the lead.
As the trio headed down to Turn 1 for the first time, Ekström used his CUPRA’s power-up to pass Filippi and then Ferrara, before the Swede began to pull clear of the chasing duo.
With Ekström clear, Ferrara looked to also have second secured until the Italian made a mistake at Turn 1 on the final lap, locking a brake and sliding on the exit of the turn.
Filippi pulled alongside, but the Corsican couldn’t get through and despite being glued to the rear of the Alfa Romeo for the rest of the lap, had to settle for third.
Pool B
Nagy, Chilton and Baptista battled first in Pool B, with Baptista claiming the early lead at the first corner ahead of Chilton.
Nagy then claimed second around the outside of the Hyundai at the next corner, but over the course of the next lap the pair fell away from the leading Alfa Romeo of Brazilian Baptista.
Chilton tried to pass Nagy for second at turn 2 on the second lap, but the Brit went too deep and the home hero immediately reclaimed the position.
The final lap saw Chilton again try to pass Nagy, firstly at Turn 2 and later at Turn 12, but the Hyundai racer couldn’t quite manage it as Nagy held second, some 6.43 seconds behind winner Baptista.
The second Pool B battle was between Azcona, Vernay and Luca Filippi, with the latter having the inside line for the first turn and thus claiming the early lead.
As Filippi occupied himself with defending from Vernay, Azcona swept around the inside two corners later to claim the lead, passing both within the space of two corners.
Vernay then dived down the inside of Filippi for second at Turn 1, and over the course of the lap he closed down Azcona’s lead, before applying significant pressure heading onto lap two.
The Frenchman dropped back on the final lap, into the clutches of Filippi, who had preserved more of his power-up. The two then made contact into the final corner as the Italian tried a late lunge, but Vernay ultimately held on to second after contact between the pair, as Azcona claimed the win for CUPRA.
Round 2 – Head-to-head battles
Kicking off the Pool A head-to-head battles were CUPRA’s Ekström and Hyundai’s Farfus, with series leader Ekström gunning to maintain his advantage.
The Swede shot into the lead at the start, but the decisive moment came at Turn 5 on the opening lap when Farfus used a boost of power-up and made a lunge. The Brazilian locked up and clattered into the CUPRA, but took the lead.
Thereafter Ekström couldn’t close in again on Farfus, leaving the latter to cross the line for the win. However, the stewards took a dim view on Farfus’ move and opted to penalise him by six points, effectively giving him the same score as Ekström in the battle, as he should have claimed 12 for the win.
Romeo Ferraris team-mates Eng and Ferrara duelled for the win in the second head-to-head in Pool A, with the Austrian ultimately claiming an easy win over the series newcomer, who had dropped back despite using more of his power-up on the opening lap.
The final Pool A battle pitted Hyundai’s John Filippi against CUPRA’s Gené. Filippi used his power-up at the start to confirm the lead.
Gené then passed Filippi into Turn 1 for the first time, as the pair went wheel-to-wheel at the following corner as well, before Filippi emerged back in the lead after some contact.
Filippi was much more defensive on the second lap, giving him the line to hold off Gené and claim the battle win.
In Pool B, Azcona, who had only lost one battle so far this season, slotted into second at the start but the CUPRA driver seized the lead at Turn 2, using his power-up to cleanly pass Baptista before the corner.
Baptista kept Azcona honest until the same corner on the following lap, when a lock-up allowed the Spaniard to get the breathing space he needed to ease to the win.
The second Pool B battle between Nagy and Vernay saw a feisty start, but Nagy slid at the second corner and dropped back from the Hyundai racer.
As the Hungarian used more power-up and still failed to catch Vernay, it became clear that the CUPRA driver would have to settle for second. But when Vernay was penalised with three seconds to his battle time for exceeding track limits, Nagy bagged the win after all.
The final battle, pitching Romeo Ferraris’ Luca Filippi against Hyundai’s Chilton, with Filippi claiming the initial advantage, although Chilton pressured the Alfa Romeo driver hard into Turn 1.
As Chilton sipped all of his power-up over the first lap and still dropped back, the battle went in the favour of Filippi, who ultimately won the battle by 1.7 seconds.
Championship situation
A thrilling day of action sees Ekström hold the standings lead, 23 points ahead of Vernay. In terms of the event points, Azcona’s undefeated run means he holds the advantage with 27 points, whilst Pool B has Eng on top with a 22-point tally.
Sunday’s track action kicks off with the time trials in the morning to determine the starting order for the two SuperFinals, which are at 13:00 BST and 16:00 BST for Pool A and B respectively.