Emanuele Olivieri set the pace in the opening 50-minute Free Practice session at the Hungaroring, continuing the momentum from his maiden FIA Formula Regional European Championship victory at Monza just two weeks ago.
Making his first appearance at the Hungarian venue, the 17-year-old Italian left it until the closing stages to move to the top of the order with a lap of 1:38.146 for R-ace GP.
That was enough to put him 0.085s clear of MP Motorsport's Alexander Abkhazava, while championship leader Sebastian Wheldon completed the top three, less than two tenths off the benchmark time.
Olivieri had already become the first driver to break into the 1m39s earlier in the session, posting a 1:38.840 with just over 30 minutes remaining. His time stood as the reference until the final 12 minutes, when the order at the top began to change rapidly.
Jan Przyrowski of RPM was briefly the fastest driver before Wheldon moved to the top of the timesheets. Abkhazava then lowered the benchmark to a 1:38.231, with Rashid Al Dhaheri moving into second place.
Wheldon slipped back to third, while Olivieri improved by more than four tenths compared to his previous effort to move back into contention. Then, with just three minutes remaining, the Italian delivered a final improvement to reclaim P1 and end the session fastest overall.
R-ace GP also secured fourth and fifth places courtesy of Yuki Sano and Al Dhaheri, while Rodin Motorsport pair Alex Ninovic and Reza Seewooruthun finished sixth and seventh respectively.
Dion Gowda placed eighth for Van Amersfoort Racing ahead of Przyrowski and PREMA Racing driver Kean Nakamura-Berta, who completed the top 10.
A total of 26 drivers finished within a second of the fastest lap, highlighting the competitiveness of the field heading into the remainder of the weekend. The second 50-minute Free Practice session is scheduled to begin later this afternoon at 16:41 local time.
