Riberas Dominates At Hungaroring

If rain and cold played a leading role over previous meetings, burning heat characterized the first day at Hungaroring circuit, scenario of the sixth World Series by Renault championship meeting this weekend. Extreme conditions, around 30ºC, added an extra level of difficulty to free practice which saw EPSILON EUSKADI finishing on the leading position at the Formula Renault 2.0. Finding his way around the 4,381 meters' track, debutant Alex Riberas put an extraordinary flying lap on that lifted him to the top. Unfortunately, satisfaction wasn't complete since, looking for the limits, Riberas crashed his car putting an end to the session. His team-mates had a good day as well managing a top ten position for the EPSILON team and finishing with good feeling to face tomorrow's tricky and definitive qualifying session. Miguel Otegui and Genís Olivé, always on top positions, finished fifth and sixth, with Giovanni Venturini on the ninth spot.

Alex Riberas Credit: Eurocup 2.0

Today was also a hard working day for Albert Costa and Keisuke Kunimoto in the Formula Renault 3.5. Being such a complicated track, it was important for both of them to accumulate experience around a track where Costa has never been at with the FR3.5 and completely unknown for Kunimoto. In search for improving their skills, they worked on lots of different set up alternatives looking for the best combination, both for tomorrow's low aerodynamic configuration race and Sunday's high down force one. Keisuke Kunimoto was 13th and Albert Costa 15th in the combined standings, about a second off the best time.

Alex Riberas - 1st, 1'44.683: "Being my first time here, it was important to spend time testing and trying different things on used tires. Once we found a set up I was comfortable with, we put a new set of tires and went for it. I did a good lap but felt I could improve even more and decided to risk. Unfortunately it didn't play well and went out damaging the rear wing. Today was the day for testing, tomorrow won't. I have a four positions penalty for the race start so it is important to qualify on a good position for this penalty to weight as little as possible."

Miguel Otegui - 5th, 1'45.145: "Track was quite dirty in the morning but improved a lot in the afternoon. The truth is that I felt pretty comfortable and, improving on a couple of things for tomorrow, I believe we can improve even more. I couldn't get the most of the new set of tires and, in spite of it I managed a good lap time. We have to be careful but improving a little the second sector I think we can be in front."

Genís Olivé - 6th, 1'45.169: "Today we focused on refining the set up and the truth is that I felt rather confident and managed to lap consistently from the beginning. We are all quite close looking at the lap times and you can win a lot of positions with a slight time improvement. Perfecting third and a little first sectors through set up and driving, we are sure we can manage the half second we are missing. And I am confident to do it tomorrow."

Giovanni Venturini - 9th, 1'45.441: "Although final position doesn't reflect it, today's balance is positive. I am close to my team-mates without having used a new set of tires. The car is well-balanced and I felt fine. Adjusting a few details and on new tires I hope we can repeat the good performance we had at Magny-Cours. Today, the heat was blazing, especially when stopped at the pit lane, and this will definitely be an important factor to be taken into account tomorrow."

Imanol Zubikarai - FR2.0 Team Manager: "It was a good day today and the four drivers of the team did a good job. But we should take it carefully because tomorrow will be the real test. Riberas did an extraordinary lap and tried different things. It is a shame the accident he had in the end. Otegui, Olivé and Venturini are strong as well. They have a good pace and feel confident and this, on the first day, is of key importance."

Keisuke Kunimoto - 13th, 1'35.356: "I have never been here before and it was quite tough, both given the heat and the bumps. We tested different set up configurations and I think we did a good job. I believe that we can improve quite a lot tomorrow. The LAC work was good and I hope to have a good race tomorrow."

Albert Costa - 15th, 1'35.569: "This is a delicate track and, although I was here last year, it wasn't on this car. Today was for testing different things because there won't be time for that tomorrow. We improved as the day went ahead and, although we still aren't were we wanted to, I believe we will tomorrow. There is still room for improvement and I am really looking forward to a good result here tomorrow."

Albert Fabrega - FR3.5 Team Manager: "Final times don't reflect the team's potential. I think that the two cars' balance -both on LAC and high down force- is good. But we will confirm tomorrow because today was a testing day for everybody and can be misjudged. Tomorrow will be hard, especially given the high temperatures which will make things real difficult to everybody."

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