Series leader Luca Ghiotto won the battle for pole position today in a sweltering and hotly contested qualifying session in Hungary. The Trident star clocked a best laptime of 1:34.030 which was just 0.036s faster than Arden International’s Emil Bernstorff who had topped the timesheets earlier on. Mercedes junior and ART Grand Prix rookie Esteban Ocon was third.

The thirty minute session saw track temperatures as high as forty-one degrees as the pack ventured onto the Hungaroring in their quest for pole. Italian Ghiotto was first to lap into the 1m35’s before Ocon dipped into the 1m34’s early on.

Ghiotto responded to the Frenchman by lapping two tenths quicker, whilst Campos Racing’s Alex Palou shot into second, just 0.010s shy off the Trident ace. Bernstorff found some more pace to head to the top of the timesheet, with the top three covered by just 0.022s showing how tough the competition is.

Ghiotto was back into P1 for a brief moment until ART Grand Prix’s Marvin Kirchhöfer bettered his time by 0.066s. This was to be short lived as Bernstorff improved yet again, lighting the first sector purple. But nothing was going to stop Ghiotto today: he posted the fastest time in the middle sector and reclaimed pole position taking his third pole of the season. Ocon also improved on his final attempt into third, demoting his teammate Kirchhöfer to fourth.

Behind the Italian at the chequered flag was Bernstorff, Ocon, Kirchhöfer, Jimmy Eriksson (Koiranen GP), Matthew Parry, Alex Palou, Antonio Fuoco (Carlin), Kevin Ceccon and Pal Varhaug (Jenzer Motorsport) completed the top ten.

Similar conditions are expected later for the forty-minute long race at 17.20pm local time.