The 2026 F2 Hungarian GP Qualifying session followed a disrupted Free Practice hour at the Hungaroring, where Dino Beganovic set the pace for DAMS Lucas Oil.
The session started with Joshua Dürksen leading the field out, before Rafael Câmara moved to the top as the lap times began to fall. However, Mari Boya’s crash at Turn 1 interrupted the running and forced race control to stop the session with just under half of practice remaining.
Once the field returned to the track, Gabriele Minì briefly led for MP Motorsport before Nikola Tsolov looked set to take over at the front. However, officials deleted Tsolov’s 1:30.603 for exceeding track limits at the final corner, dropping him to sixth.
That handed the benchmark back to Beganovic, whose 1:30.720 remained unbeaten. Minì finished just 0.015s behind in second, with Nicolás Varrone completing the top three as the field turned its focus to Qualifying.
Green lights for Qualifying
Qualifying got underway with the drivers heading out for their opening runs. Rafael Câmara emerged first on the Medium tyres, though he soon returned to the pitlane, while his teammate Dürksen set off on the Softs for his first flying lap, running wide at the final corner much as he had done earlier in Free Practice.
Oliver Goethe briefly held the fastest time before Dino Beganovic bettered it, and Nikola Tsolov then moved to the top of the order. Further improvements followed, and Tsolov eventually established himself in first with a 1:29.601, ahead of Gabriele Minì, his closest title rival, and Martinius Stenshorne. Just 0.193 seconds separated Tsolov and Minì at the top.
The field pushed on for a second run on softs as those who had waited in the pits finally joined the track. Alexander Dunne could only improve to seventh, 0.571 seconds off the pace, while the first drivers on an alternative strategy began to emerge. León set the new benchmark with a 1:29.486, with Kush Maini splitting him from the chasing pack in second, only for Câmara to go quickest of all with a 1:29.380, an impressive result from the Brazilian, who continued improving on his second run when several rivals couldn’t manage the same.
The battle for pole intensifies at the 2026 F2 Hungarian GP Qualifying session
Câmara sharpened his advantage further still, dropping to a 1:29.323 to extend his lead. Attention then turned to the closing runs, with Tsolov turning purple through the middle sector before edging ahead by just 0.010 seconds with a 1:29.313. Moments later, Dürksen produced a stunning lap of his own to seize provisional pole with a 1:29.106.
Late drama as the session reaches its climax
Maini then usurped everyone with a 1:28.896, while Inthraphuvasak climbed to third, 0.311 seconds behind his teammate. With Câmara and León still biding their time in the pits, questions grew over how late they would leave their final attempts. Dunne appeared to make an error on his lap, dropping to nineteenth, a rare stumble for a driver who hadn’t finished outside the top four all season, leaving him to weigh up whether one more attempt was worth the risk.
León and Câmara eventually rejoined the track as Maini, Dürksen and Tsolov all pitted. Laurens van Hoepen moved up to fourth, while Stenshorne settled in ninth and Dunne could only manage fifteenth on his final effort. A flurry of late improvements followed, with Câmara setting the pace through the first sector and Beganovic climbing to sixth.
León briefly took second, only for Câmara to reclaim the position moments later. Then Maini struck, snatching pole position for the second time this season and beating Câmara by 0.117 seconds. León completed the front three ahead of Dürksen, with Inthraphuvasak fifth, Van Hoepen sixth and Tsolov seventh. Beganovic rounded out the top eight ahead of Minì, with Montoya completing the top ten.
