The fourth round of the 2024 International GT Open season is scheduled to take place at the Hungaroring circuit, just outside Budapest. Following the experience of the endurance weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, the usual format is back, with two races lasting 60 and 70 minutes respectively. Alex Fontana will be competing in the event together with his teammate “Hash”, an AF Academy driver, at the wheel of the Porsche 992 GT3 R entered by the Car Collection team in the PRO-AM category, the car he also drove last weekend in the first round of the Italian Gran Turismo Championship at Vallelunga.
The Hungarian circuit has featured throughout the Swiss driver’s career and has brought considerable satisfaction: in 2012 he won Race-1 in the Formula 2 championship obtaining crucial points for the development of his season. Fate then dealt a poor hand in qualifying for the 2014 GP3 race, when with record times in the first and second sectors, he saw the red flag shown when he was taking the last corner, negating a pole position that might have changed the course of that particular weekend, and perhaps of the entire season. In this race, it will be up to Fontana and Hash to continue the excellent trend of the previous rounds of the GT Open, competing for another finish in the points zone, useful for the overall standings.
The event programme will see two qualifying sessions, one for each driver. The first session will determine the starting grid for Saturday's 70-minute race. The team will be obliged to make a driver change during the pit stop window in the central phase of the race, in order to ensure the joint participation of all crew members. On the Sunday, the starting grid for the second race, lasting 60 minutes, will be established through the second qualifying session. The second race will again feature a mandatory driver change midway through the race. The two races will take place respectively on Saturday 22 June at 14:30 and Sunday 23 June at 13:45.
Alex Fontana
“I’m delighted to be heading to Hungary with the boost that the last race at Spa gave us. This is a circuit where overtaking is difficult so it’ll be important to have a good qualifying session and we’ll be doing everything we can to achieve that. I’m convinced that Hash will continue his steady growth given all the progress he’s making through this championship, and we’ll be trying to bring deserved success to the entire Car Collection team.”