Hungaroring: Ultimate Motorsport preview

Ultimate 'Hungary' to Start Winning

On June 13 and 14 The World Series by Renault heads to Eastern Europe for the next two rounds of the Formula Renault 3.5 Championship and Ultimate Motorsport will be hoping to reproduce the form at the home of the Hungarian Grand Prix that last year saw the team take their first ever win in the category.

A strong 4th placed finish in Monaco on the back of two podiums in Spa has put Miguel Molina in 5th place overall in the 2009 drivers championship. The Spanish driver finished 3rd in Hungary last season driving for Prema Powerteam and rates the twisty Hungaroring circuit as one of his favourites.

Like most of the tracks on the 2009 calendar, this will be Greg Mansell's first visit to the Eastern European circuit but this lack of circuit knowledge still hasn't stopped the 21-year-old demonstrating his ability to move up the order in racing conditions from low starting positions. He will be hoping Hungary will be the venue where he and the Ultimate Motorsport team can start to produce better qualifying performances to give him a shot at scoring some more championship points in his first season at this level.

"Last year Hungary was where we started to produce the results we had promised earlier in our debut season," said Team Manager Colin Morgan. "Fabio Carbone scored a third placed finish in the first race of the weekend; he then followed this up with a win in the feature race on Sunday and we are confident that we can emulate these performances this year. Miguel has been getting stronger and stronger and we know he likes the Hungaroring circuit, so we'll be aiming to get him back on the podium this weekend; hopefully the top step! Greg has shown great race pace in the first five races this year but he has been hampered by qualifying so far back on the grid. We'll be working hard to get him further up the grid in Hungary, with the goal of qualification for the SuperPole session this weekend. Once he is there he'll have a good shot at some more championship points."

Greg Mansell: "I've never been to Hungary before but we're improving with every race, we're working on getting a better car and we finished up three tenths quicker than Miguel in the race in Monaco, so everything is going in the right direction. We need to improve in qualifying but Ultimate are a great team and they are up for the challenges ahead."

Miguel Molina: "Hungary is one of my favourite tracks and I'm confident that we can do well there. I confident with the car and with the team so it will be a good weekend. We have a good car but we can always improve a little bit more to give us a good result."

Rounds 6 & 7 of the 2009 Formula Renault 3.5 Series take place on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 June with qualifying on Saturday morning.

-credit: ultimate