Reigning electric touring car champion and 2022 FIA ETCR points leader Mattias Ekström once again led the way at the end of the first day of the FIA eTouring Car World Cup at the Hungaroring.
CUPRA racer Ekström had been the fastest driver of all in the day’s opening qualifying session, becoming the only driver to dip below the 1 minute 54 seconds mark all day with his effort of 1:53.442.
That put Ekström, the reigning PURE ETCR champion, on top of the times in ‘Pool Fast’ by a huge 0.690 seconds from Hyundai’s Mikel Azcona.
In ‘Pool Furious’, it was CUPRA EKS driver Adrien Tambay who led the way with a lap of 1:54.793 in the first session, made all the more important after the Frenchman was the only driver on his side of the draw unable to post a time in the second session.
Tambay ended up just over a tenth of a second ahead of Romeo Ferraris’ Bruno Spengler, who thus made his way into the top half of his Pool for the Quarter Finals.
Qualifying 1 – Pool Fast
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 1 |  |
Mattias EKSTRÖM | CUPRA EKS | CUPRA e-Racer | 3 | 1:53.442 | – |
| 2 | 96 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai Veloster N ETCR | 3 | 1:54.132 | 0.690 |
| 3 | 21 |  |
Giovanni VENTURINI | Romeo Ferraris | Alfa Romeo Giulia ETCR | 3 | 1:54.877 | 1.435 |
| 4 | 31 | |
Kevin CECCON | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai Veloster N ETCR | 3 | 1:54.905 | 1.463 |
| 5 | 36 |  |
Maxime MARTIN | Romeo Ferraris | Alfa Romeo Giulia ETCR | 3 | 1:55.965 | 2.523 |
| 6 | 28 | |
Jordi GENÉ | CUPRA EKS | CUPRA e-Racer | 3 | 1:57.227 | 3.785 |
Qualifying 2 – Pool Fast
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 1 | |
Mattias EKSTRÖM | CUPRA EKS | CUPRA e-Racer | 3 | 1:54.010 | – |
| 2 | 31 | |
Kevin CECCON | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai Veloster N ETCR | 3 | 1:54.284 | 0.274 |
| 3 | 96 | |
Mikel AZCONA | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai Veloster N ETCR | 3 | 1:54.330 | 0.320 |
| 4 | 21 | |
Giovanni VENTURINI | Romeo Ferraris | Alfa Romeo Giulia ETCR | 3 | 1:54.400 | 0.390 |
| 5 | 36 | |
Maxime MARTIN | Romeo Ferraris | Alfa Romeo Giulia ETCR | 3 | 1:54.577 | 0.567 |
| 6 | 28 | |
Jordi GENÉ | CUPRA EKS | CUPRA e-Racer | 3 | No time | N/A |
Qualifying 1 – Pool Furious
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 27 |  |
Adrien TAMBAY | CUPRA EKS | CUPRA e-Racer | 3 | 1:54.793 | – |
| 2 | 7 |  |
Bruno SPENGLER | Romeo Ferraris | Alfa Romeo Giulia ETCR | 3 | 1:54.906 | 0.113 |
| 3 | 5 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai Veloster N ETCR | 3 | 1:55.389 | 0.596 |
| 4 | 25 | |
Luca FILIPPI | Romeo Ferraris | Alfa Romeo Giulia ETCR | 3 | 1:55.623 | 0.830 |
| 5 | 69 | |
Jean-Karl VERNAY | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai Veloster N ETCR | 3 | 1:55.737 | 0.944 |
| 6 | 10 |  |
Tom BLOMQVIST | CUPRA EKS | CUPRA e-Racer | 3 | 1:55.899 | 1.106 |
Qualifying 2 – Pool Furious
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 10 | |
Tom BLOMQVIST | CUPRA EKS | CUPRA e-Racer | 3 | 1:54.976 | – |
| 2 | 69 | |
Jean-Karl VERNAY | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai Veloster N ETCR | 3 | 1:55.011 | 0.035 |
| 3 | 7 | |
Bruno SPENGLER | Romeo Ferraris | Alfa Romeo Giulia ETCR | 3 | 1:55.081 | 0.105 |
| 4 | 5 | |
Norbert MICHELISZ | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai Veloster N ETCR | 3 | 1:55.661 | 0.685 |
| 5 | 25 | |
Luca FILIPPI | Romeo Ferraris | Alfa Romeo Giulia ETCR | 3 | 1:55.918 | 0.942 |
| 6 | 27 | |
Adrien TAMBAY | CUPRA EKS | CUPRA e-Racer | 3 | No time | N/A |
The first Quarter Final of the day in ‘Pool Fast’ pitched CUPRA’s Ekström up against Hyundai’s Azcona and Kevin Ceccon.
At the start, a feisty-looking Azcona stole the lead from Ekström at the second turn of the opening lap, but over the course of the next three laps the CUPRA driver kept on the tail of the man with whom he shared a car in 2021.
Then, at the penultimate corner of the last lap, Ekström re-gained the lead from Azcona with a well-timed undercut manoeuvre, claiming the victory which would see him end the day on top of the points, whilst Ceccon was a distant third.
The second Quarter Final of the first half of the Pool was more sedate at the front, with Romeo Ferraris’ Maxime Martin winning ahead of team-mate Giovanni Venturini, whilst CUPRA’s Jordi Gené was third, having battled hard with Venturini throughout.
Pool Fast Quarter Final 1
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 1 | |
Mattias EKSTRÖM | CUPRA EKS | CUPRA e-Racer | 3 | 5:50.831 | 1:57.785 | 1 | |
| 2 | 96 | |
Mikel AZCONA | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai Veloster N ETCR | 3 | 0.488 | 1:57.864 | 2 | |
| 3 | 31 | |
Kevin CECCON | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai Veloster N ETCR | 3 | 2.350 | 1:58.225 | 3 |
Pool Fast Quarter Final 2
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 36 | |
Maxime MARTIN | Romeo Ferraris | Alfa Romeo Giulia ETCR | 3 | 5:52.998 | 1:58.760 | 2 | |
| 2 | 21 | |
Giovanni VENTURINI | Romeo Ferraris | Alfa Romeo Giulia ETCR | 3 | 2.336 | 1:59.339 | 1 | |
| 3 | 28 | |
Jordi GENÉ | CUPRA EKS | CUPRA e-Racer | 3 | 2.670 | 1:58.982 | 3 |
In ‘Pool Furious’, the first Quarter Final delivered victory for Romeo Ferraris’ Bruno Spengler, but only after contact between the duelling CUPRAs of Adrien Tambay and Tom Blomqvist.
Tambay started from pole but made a poor start, giving Spengler the lead into the first corner. Despite muscling Blomqvist out wide at Turn 2, the Canadian held onto the lead for the next two laps.
At the same corner on the final lap, after Spengler had made some mistakes under pressure, the trio of cars bunched up and Blomqvist misjudged his braking, spearing into the back of team-mate Tambay.
That gifted Spengler the win, with only Tambay limping to the finish after Blomqvist’s CUPRA suffered front-end damage in the impact.
The second Quarter Final was less edgy, with Hyundai’s Jean-Karl Vernay securing a lights-to-flag win, although Romeo Ferraris’ Luca Filippi and Hyundai’s Norbert Michelisz did battle hard over second, which eventually went the way of the former.
With pole in qualifying and a Quarter Final win, Ekström scored the most points at the end of the day, three ahead of Spengler, who won his heat but hadn’t quite been quickest in his Pool’s qualifying session.
Pool Furious Quarter Final 1
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 7 | |
Bruno SPENGLER | Romeo Ferraris | Alfa Romeo Giulia ETCR | 3 | 5:56.124 | 1:59.061 | 2 | |
| 2 | 27 | |
Adrien TAMBAY | CUPRA EKS | CUPRA e-Racer | 3 | 29.792 | 1:58.388 | 1 | |
| R | 10 | |
Tom BLOMQVIST | CUPRA EKS | CUPRA e-Racer | 2 | DNF | 1:58.241 | 3 |
Pool Furious Quarter Final 2
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 69 | |
Jean-Karl VERNAY | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai Veloster N ETCR | 3 | 5:53.288 | 1:58.541 | 1 | |
| 2 | 25 | |
Luca FILIPPI | Romeo Ferraris | Alfa Romeo Giulia ETCR | 3 | 2.654 | 1:59.088 | 3 | |
| 3 | 5 | |
Norbert MICHELISZ | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai Veloster N ETCR | 3 | 3.160 | 1:58.944 | 2 |
Track action resumes on Sunday with the delayed Semi-Finals for Pool Fast, along with the originally scheduled Pool Furious Semi-Finals and the SuperFinal for both halves of the draw.