Daizun Download: FREC Hungaroring Round 5
2026 FIA Formula Regional European Championship Race Report - Hungaroring, Round 5
Credit: © Dutch Photo Agency
Budapest has quickly become one of my favourite stops on the calendar - and this time, it wasn't just the circuit or results that made it special. Seeing fans turn up with a hand-crocheted tribute and a bespoke flag made for a moment I genuinely wasn't expecting. It means more than I can put into words, so I just want to say thank you.
Credit: © Dutch Photo Agency
Qualifying 1
The best qualifying performance of my season so far. Running in Group B, I got on top of the setup quickly and surged to the top of the timesheets with a 1:37.785 - a lap that would have been good enough for pole in any other session. As it turned out, Yuki Sano had set a 1:37.760 in Group A just twenty-five thousandths of a second faster, and with the track conditions favouring the earlier group, that was enough to hand him pole overall. Twenty-five thousandths. It's a brutal margin, but it put me on the front row of the grid for Race 1 - the best starting position of my FREC campaign to date.
Credit: © Dutch Photo Agency
Race 1
Front row of the grid, and I wanted to make it count. Sano got away cleanly from pole and immediately began to control the pace, but Rashid Al Dhaheri was sharp enough to pounce as we exited the first corner, slipping past to take second on the opening lap and dropping me to third.
From there, the race became about management and composure. I settled into a rhythm and focused on keeping the position, which was easier said than done - Emanuel Olivieri was right with me through the middle stages and kept the pressure on throughout the latter half of the race. He pushed hard, but I pushed back harder. Every lap I kept him behind me was a statement, and when the chequered flag fell I brought the car home in third.
Sano took a lights-to-flag win ahead of Al Dhaheri, for me, it was a welcomed podium at the Hungaroring and a great start to the weekend.
Credit: © Dutch Photo Agency
Qualifying 2
Cooler and overcast conditions greeted us for the second qualifying session, and the track felt different to the day before. I set a personal best in the middle sector and kept a competitive rhythm throughout Group B, sitting P4 before the final laps came in from the other drivers. Sadly, I couldn't replicate the front-row heroics of Saturday. Alexander Abkazavar led the Group B times, while Rashid Al Dhaheri went quickest overall with a 1:37.639, setting up a front-row lockout for R-ace GP alongside Yuki Sano.
Credit: © Dutch Photo Agency
Race 2
Starting from P16, the task was clear - put my head down and go racing. And that's exactly what I did. By the end of lap one I was already up to P12, and I kept the momentum going through the middle of the race, picking off positions as others encountered trouble ahead. The pack was close, there was no margin for error. With 15 minutes on the clock, I made a move on my team-mate Gabriel Gomez for P11 we’d been racing closely from lap 2.
The late race brought a safety car following contact between Chi and Hanna, and the chaos of a race that also saw championship leader Seb Weldon retire early worked in my favour, putting me into the top 10. I crossed the line inside the points, and with a post-race penalty for Abkazavar subsequently, I was promoted to P9.
Two points finishes, a podium, and a front-row start. Hungary delivered. Onwards to Round 6 at Paul Ricard next week!
