Néstor Girolami of Münnich Motorsport was the sole driver to go below 1:54 in the first free practice session of the FIA World Touring Car Cup weekend at the Hungaroring, making it a Honda 1-2-3 with team-mate Esteban Guerrieri in second and local hero Attila Tassi in third.

The Argentinian driver lapped the circuit in 1:53.919 and was 0.124 seconds faster than Guerrieri, with both drivers setting their fastest lap times in the dying minutes of the session.

Jean-Karl Vernay was best of the non-Honda drivers in his Audi RS 3 LMS, close to six tenth of a second off Girolami’s time.

Comtoyou Racing Cupra driver Aurelien Panis claimed the fifth fastest time ahead of his team-mate Tom Coronel in sixth. A mere 18 thousands of a second separated the two.

Hungarian driver Norbert Michelisz was fastest of the Hyundai drivers in seventh position after topping the list early in the session, setting a time that was 0.657 seconds from Girolami.

Andy Priaulx claimed position eight for team Lynk & Co Cyan Racing 90 thousands of a second ahead of Brazilian Hyundai driver Augusto Farfus in ninth.

KCMG driver Tiago Monterio rounded off the top ten, nine tenths from manufacturer colleague Girolami.

The Volkswagen drivers seemed to continue their struggle with Rob Huff fastest of the German manufacturer down in 17th position, 1.275 seconds from the fastest time.

Next up is the second free practice session, starting at 09:45 CEST tomorrow.