M1RA’s Dániel Nagy emerged as the fastest driver after the first free practice session for the TCR Europe series at the Hungaroring, putting his Hyundai almost two tenths ahead of the Honda of KCMG’s Josh Files.
Files had topped the times for much of the session with his lap of 1 minute 54.199 seconds, but local racer Nagy, who already secured a podium finish at the circuit when he entered the FIA WTCR races as a wildcard two month’s ago, stamped his authority with three minutes to run.
Files ended up in second, ahead of the Target Competition Hyundai of Serbia’s Dušan Borkovič in third, a further tenth back.
Just behind Borkovič was team-mate Reece Barr, who ended up causing a ten-minute red flag delay when he crashed his Hyundai at Turn 5 shortly after posting the quickest first sector of all.
When the session eventually restarted, WRT’s Jean-Karl Vernay was able to haul his Audi up to fifth fastest, 0.465 seconds off the pace, ahead of the second KCMG Honda of Attila Tassi in sixth.
M1RA’s Francisco Abreu was seventh, ahead of Comtoyou Racing’s Maxime Potty and Target Competition’s Kris Richard in eighth and ninth respectively.
Autodis Racing’s Stefano Comini – still suffering with a knee injury this weekend – completed the top ten, with the Swiss being the first driver more than a second off the pace in his Honda.
Second practice takes place at 16:00 CEST (15:00 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 999 | Dániel NAGY |  |
M1RA | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 1:54.028 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 99 | Josh FILES |  |
Hell Energy Racing with KCMG | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 9 | 1:54.199 | 0.171 |
| 3 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 1:54.301 | 0.273 |
| 4 | 8 | Reece BARR |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | 1:54.453 | 0.425 |
| 5 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:54.493 | 0.465 |
| 6 | 9 | Attila TASSI | |
Hell Energy Racing with KCMG | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 12 | 1:54.896 | 0.868 |
| 7 | 26 | Francisco MORA |  |
M1RA | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 1:54.926 | 0.898 |
| 8 | 88 | Maxime POTTY |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | 1:54.992 | 0.964 |
| 9 | 94 | Kris RICHARD |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 1:55.023 | 0.995 |
| 10 | 42 | Stefano COMINI | |
Autodis Racing by THX | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 9 | 1:55.284 | 1.256 |
| 11 | 7 | Igor STEFANOVSKI |  |
Stefanovski Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 1:55.505 | 1.477 |
| 12 | 14 | Loris CENCETTI |  |
Autodis Racing by THX | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 9 | 1:55.606 | 1.578 |
| 13 | 25 | Mikel AZCONA |  |
PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 7 | 1:55.706 | 1.678 |
| 14 | 34 | Stian PAULSEN |  |
Stian Paulsen Racing | CUPRA TCR | 7 | 1:55.724 | 1.696 |
| 15 | 4 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 1:55.938 | 1.910 |
| 16 | 13 | Cedric PIRO |  |
Autodis Racing by Piro Sports | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:55.978 | 1.950 |
| 17 | 10 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKY | |
PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 10 | 1:56.179 | 2.151 |
| 18 | 23 | Francisco ABREU | |
Sports & You | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 1:56.395 | 2.367 |
| 19 | 38 | Danny KROES |  |
PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 1:56.429 | 2.401 |
| 20 | 20 | Márk JEDLÓCZKY | |
JLG Sport | CUPRA TCR | 8 | 1:56.577 | 2.549 |
| 21 | 17 | Martin RYBA |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | 1:56.628 | 2.600 |
| 22 | 55 | Ferenc FICZA | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR DSG | 8 | 1:56.711 | 2.683 |
| 23 | 21 | Marie BAUS-COPPENS | |
JSB Compétition | CUPRA TCR DSG | 9 | 2:00.100 | 6.072 |
| 24 | 11 | Jens Reno MØLLER |  |
Reno Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 4 | 2:24.684 | 30.656 |