Tyre stacks and wet weather action the TCR World Tour talking points on Friday

TCR World Tour drivers got a taste of the Hungaroring in the wet and dry in practice on Friday, and several decisions from race control influenced the action.

The first was to place tyre stacks beyond the kerbing at the turns six/seven chicane, an inarguable way of determining whether a driver had exceeded track limits there or not based on if they struck the stacks, then later in the day race control chose to delay the start of second practice by 22 minutes following heavy rain hitting the circuit.

It meant the session still took place on a wet track, but drivers got to avoid the worst of the conditions.

After being implemented in first practice, TouringCarTimes asked drivers for their thoughts on the use of tyre stacks.

“The problem is we’re touring car drivers: you give us an inch, we’ll take a mile,” said Comtoyou Racing’s Rob Huff.

“I’ve never been a fan of tyre stacks. I think they tend to cause more problems than anything. But I think on the chicane there, it’s the only way to stop us taking an advantage.”

One of the points of argument about using the tyre stacks rather than just onboard and trackside photos was the different wheelbases of the cars competing. Shorter cars have an advantage for turn-in with it being such a tight chicane, but in wet conditions it was also a case of how much would the rear of the car need to slide out to be fully outside of the track.

“Also we sit so low in the car, that by the time we arrived if there wasn’t a tyre stack, you wouldn’t know where [the white line is],” added Huff.

“My vision on the road is probably 30 metres in front of the car. So by the time you arrive there, you wouldn’t necessarily know. We’ve tested here quite a bit in the winter when you don’t have tyre stacks. And you don’t think you’ve cut it, and you look at the data and you’re 10kph quicker than normal, and then you look at the video and you go ‘okay, it’s clear’. Because the cameras are up high.”

Despite not liking tyre stacks, he pointed out further positives of them being used.

“On those corners, I think it’s good. And what we used to do in the old World Touring Car Championship is they would remove them for the first lap of the race, then put them back. So the first lap because there’s a bit of side-by-side normally there, and then normally by the second lap they’d put them back. So I might even suggest that to them, because that worked really well.”

The next topic of discussion was the delay to second practice and the track conditions at the time. The turn 13 hairpin was one where many went deep due to aquaplaning, and Huff pointed out turn then as having standing water too.

“The fast left before the right before you go down the hill. That was aquaplaning halfway through the corner. But I have to say Rui [Marques, race director] did a really job there [waiting].

“You can’t tell when you’re sitting in the pitlane, you only know what the pitlane is doing [weather-wise]. I think everyone was starting to question why we weren’t out there already, and it was very clear on the first lap. Through turn ten it was on the limit. I think I have to say they did a really good job of choosing when we should be on track. But the rest of the track was great. It’s a track that drains really well, it’s Formula 1 standard. I like it when it’s like that.”

Cyan Racing’s Yann Ehrlacher, who was fastest in second practice, seemed to think it was not that wet on track.

“If it is wet, then we go careful. That’s it. It’s no problem. The track was okay.” he said, while team-mate Santiago Urrutia said it was the “right call” to delay the session was there was “no problems” on track once they headed out.

Urrutia also said the aquaplaning seen at turn 13 was “all brake balance” rather than the track providing not enough grip.

“It was fine actually to drive, but I don’t think we’re going to see any rain during the weekend, so it is what it is [with the set-ups chosen for second practice].”

Almost every driver set their fastest time on their first or second flying lap of the session, with barely any improvements seen despite the track drying later on.

“It’s the tyres, I think,” explained Urrutia. “They were good at the beginning, but not at the end. I think the track actually was a bit dry at the end.

Ehrlacher added: “Maybe we get used to the track as well a little bit. Because when it’s lap two, then you don’t push [based on lap one grip level] as much as you should. Then if you put on another set of four new tyres, you go a lot quicker.

“[At turn 13] you can’t arrive in the car and brake like super late if you’re not sure. You need to go there progressively.”

However finding the limit at the start was what many seemed to do, then not venture too close to it again through the rest of the session.

No more rain is forecast through the weekend, and qualifying takes place this morning at 10:55 local time (CEST).