Josef Kral claimed the first International Formula Master pole position of his career with a dominant performance in front of the Formula 1 teams at the Hungaroring.

The 19-year-old, driving for JD Motorsport, adapted quickly to the conditions at the Hungaroring after the Formula Master field was thrown straight into qualifying without free practice, only briefly losing top spot to championship leader Fabio Leimer.

Kral underlined his superiority by setting his fastest time late in the session, a lap of 1m28.216s that gave him an advantage of 0.781sec over Jenzer Motorsport driver Leimer – although the Czech did blot his copybook with a spin in the final seconds of qualifying.

Earl Bamber, on his return to the series after contesting the first two rounds of the championship with ADM Motorsport, was third fastest.

The New Zealander is one of three drivers racing at the Hungaroring as part of Formula Master's talent support program, along with Formula 3 Euro
Series racer Alex Sims (who was seventh) and F3 Open racer Samuele Buttarelli (15th).

Pal Varhaug, Leimer's nearest challenger in the championship, was one of several to struggle in qualifying. He will start 13th after struggling to get the best out of some set-up changes made before the session, while two-time IFM race winner Alessandro Kouzkin will line up one row in front of him in 11th.