EU Megane: Series Hungaroring test summary

Rossi shines on favourite hunting ground

Michael Rossi (TDS) continued his love affair with the Hungaroring today, clocking the fastest time in both sessions of collective testing. Maxime Martin (Boutsen Energy Racing) took the second-fastest time, with Sebastien Dhouailly (Team Lompech Sport) in third.

The Eurocup Megane Trophy competitors took to the track today for two hours of collective testing. Michael Rossi (TDS) quickly got the measure of his opponents. He led from the start and improved his time lap on lap. The young Frenchman whose first race win in motorsport came on this circuit would appear to be in with a fine chance of victory this weekend.

Bernhard Ten Brinke (Equipe Vershuur) and Matthieu Cheruy (Tech 1 Racing) were the first to challenge Rossi. But as the halfway mark approached and Rossi again improved his time (to 1'52''538), Maxime Martin (Boutsen Energy Racing) and Dimitri Enjalbert (Tech 1 Racing) cranked things up a notch.

When the session was brought to a halt for a few minutes after Hoevert Vos (Equipe Verschuur) crashed off, Rossi was still leading from Martin, Enjalbert and Ten Brinke.

With the drivers opting for long runs in preparation for the weekend's races, there seemed little prospect of a change in the standings. But at the end of the session, just after a second interruption caused by Secondo Gallia (Oregon Team), Ralph Meichtry (Race Performance) sneaked into third place between Martin and Enjalbert.

Meichtry led for much of the second session. But on fresh tyres, Michael Rossi came back strongly, substantially improving on his performance from this morning with a lap timed at 1'51''756. He would be the only driver to go under the 1'52 mark.

Maxime Martin was second, half a second slower than the leader. There was a battle for third between Bernhard Ten Brinke, Ralph Meichtry and Sebastien Dhouailly. In the end, it was Dhouailly who came out on top. In the closing laps, Jonathan Hirschi (Tech 1 Racing) snatched fourth place.

Michael Rossi: "I love this circuit and so far I've always done well here. The car was perfect right from the start. The TDS team already had a great car here last year, when they set the lap record with Ludovic Badey. I have to carry on this good work in qualifying and in the races. I know that the gaps between the drivers won't be as big as they were today."

Maxime Martin: "We're working hard we need to change the setup and I know I can go faster on some parts of the circuit. We won't be placing too much importance on today's performance we're going to make up the gap."

-credit: wsbyrenault.com