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Blancpain GT Sports Club newcomer Kenny Habul dominates FP1 at Hungaroring, Klaus Dieter Frers deals first blow in Iron Cup

1 September 2018
Blancpain GT Sports Club newcomer Kenny Habul dominates FP1 at Hungaroring, Klaus Dieter Frers deals first blow in Iron Cup

Blancpain GT Sports Club newcomer Kenny Habul (#751 AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG GT3) dominated the first practice session in Budapest, with Klaus Dieter Frers (#3 Artega Rennsport Ferrari 488 GT3) edging rival Stephen Earle (#111 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GT3) in the Iron Cup class.

Having driven in Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup’s practice yesterday, Kenny Habul didn’t take long to re-familiarise himself with the Hungaroring circuit and ended the session 1.8 seconds clear of Karim Ojjeh (#2 Boutsen Ginion BMW M6 GT3).

The championship leader improved late on and battled it out with Coach McKansy (#17 HP Racing International Lamborghini Huracan GT3) for second, ultimately finishing ahead of the German, who still has a slim mathematical chance of winning the title.

Behind them, Angélique Detavernier (#55 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3) continued her strong showing in the series to go fourth overall and best of the Ferrari runners on her final flying lap.

Herberth Motorsport’s Jürgen Häring (#66 Porsche 991 GT3 R) looked to be an outside shot for second early on, but late improvements dropped the German to fifth, ahead of last year’s Budapest Qualifying Race-winner Patrick Van Glabeke (#488 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3).

Then came the Iron Cup trio, headed by class leader Klaus Dieter Frers, who ended the session just 0.01 seconds clear of Stephen Earle. Louis-Philippe Soenen (#50 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3) wasn’t far behind and could be an outside shot for his first class victory of the season this weekend.

Edward Lewis Brauner (#991 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 991 GT3 R) rounded out the top-10, with Mario Cordoni (#70 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3) seeming to struggle for pace in this early session, managing just 11th place ahead of Iron Cup entry Roberto Rayneri (#60 GDL Racing Mercedes SLS AMG GT3). 

Next up will be second free practice at 11:25 (local time), before qualifying and the Qualifying Race get underway this afternoon. You can follow all the action via our live timings, with the Qualifying and Main Races live streamed on YouTube, Facebook and the website.