Carlin's Jean-Eric Vergne set the fastest time in Formula Renault 3.5 free practice at the Hungaroring this morning.
With much excitement around the Frenchman's Red Bull Junior stable-mate Daniel Ricciardo, following the announcement that he will make his Formula 1 debut with HRT at Silverstone, Vergne grabbed some of the spotlight by going quickest on a time of 1m35.016s.
Daniil Move showed that he will not be a pushover for his new high-profile teammate, and former A1 GP champion Adam Carroll at P1 Motorsport by recording the second fastest time.
Carroll is making his debut in series in place of Walter Grubmuller, who suffered a back injury in the last meeting at the Nurburgring.
Carroll ended the morning 16th, one place above returning champion Mikhail Aleshin, who takes the place of fellow Russian Anton Nebylitskiy at KMP Racing. Nebylitskiy has been stood down for this meeting following a heavy crash at the Nurburgring.
Completing the driver changes, Pons Racing has renewed its relationship with Marcos Martinez. The Spaniard scored four wins with Sito Pons' team in 2009, and becomes Oliver Webb's sixth teammate in six races.
Adding weight to his greatly improved standing this season, a late hot lap from Sergio Canamasas (BVM Target) netted the Spaniard the third fastest time ahead of Jan Charouz (Gravity-Charouz), who led the session for some time.
Fortec's Motorland winner Alexander Rossi took fifth spot. A variety of circumstances has prevented the fast American from scoring in the last three races, and Rossi will be determined to recover ground this weekend. KMP's Nelson Panciatici completed the top six.
Formula 1 new boy Ricciardo (ISR) was ninth, ahead of a good effort from Daniel McKenzie. Championship leader Robert Wickens was 15th, the Canadian completed only 11 laps after suffering engine problems.