Rounds nine and ten of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship take place this weekend at the Hungaroring, near the capital city of Budapest. After the success of the Slovakian weekend, the second Hungarian WTCC weekend is all set to be spectacular.
Before the event, there was a demonstration run on the streets of Budapest, which helped to build up interest ahead of the second visit of the WTCC to the Hungaroring.
All of the support will be for the Zengo Motorsport team and their drivers Norbert Michelisz and Gabor Weber. Michelisz secured his maiden Pole Position in Slovakia and was on course for a strong result before getting involved in two separate incidents which saw him drop down the order to an eventual sixth.
The maiden Hungarian weekend, a last minute replacement for the Marrakech weekend in 2011 saw Michelisz please the full house with a home podium in the opening race, and the support didn’t disappear when he was at the back and a lap down in the second race.
Michelisz will look to close the gap to the Yokohama Independents’ point’s leader as well as securing a home victory while Weber will be hoping to continue his progress at home and record another top ten finish.
The leading BMW driver, Tom Coronel had a tougher than expected weekend at the Slovakia Ring and left with a single fourth place finish to his name while his ROAL Motorsport team-mate, Alberto Cerqui secured his best result to date after bringing the #16 car home fourth overall and second in the Independents’ category.
Coronel will be looking for a better weekend in Hungary while Cerqui will be Hungary to repeat his Slovakian performances.
One team who won’t want a repeat of their Slovakian adventures is Liqui Moly Team Engstler. Both Franz Engstler and Charles Kaki Ng had tough weekends last weekend – and the two of them had unfortunate contact in the first race, which ruled Ng out of the second race.
Both drivers will look to bounce back in Hungary, and avoid any form of contact between them as well.
Proteam Racing will be down to a single car for Mehdi Bennani after it was confirmed that Isaac Tutulmu had left the team. Tutulmu had missed the Slovakian round due to damage sustained on the streets of Marrakech and the former Porsche Supercup driver has returned to the Formula One support series.
Bennani secured his best result of the season in Slovakia after he brought home the #25 BMW 320TC seventh overall in the second race. For the team, the trip to Hungary marks the return to the circuit where they recorded their best result of the 2011 campaign, a third place in the first race for Javi Villa.
Stefano d’Aste in the Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC had a tough weekend in Slovakia but remains in the hunt for the Yokohama Independents’ title, and will arrive in Hungary looking to bounce back from his race two retirement in Slovakia.
Securing their first win of the 2012 campaign and the first for the Oreca developed Skoda based SEAT Sport engine was Gabriele Tarquini in the Lukoil Racing Team SEAT Leon, and he led home his team-mate Alexey Dudukalo. For Dudukalo, it was his maiden WTCC podium finish.
Pepe Oriola also impressed in the SEAT Tuenti Racing Team SEAT Leon and the youngster was on for his first outright podium finish before having his race ruined by a puncture with three laps remaining. He still leads the way in the Yokohama Independents’ battle, having secured his fourth class victory in four weekends.
Tiago Monteiro in the sister SEAT Tuenti Racing team SEAT Leon had secured a seasons’ best fourth in qualifying for the Slovakia Ring races but his qualifying performances weren’t rewarded with results as he failed to finish either race.
In stark contrast to Monteiro, the Special Tuning Racing team saw both their drivers, Tom Boardman and Darryl O’Young work their way up the field to secure top ten finishes. Boardman is still running the SEAT TDi engine in his car while O’Young has the SEAT Sport engine and he is starting to secure the results but openly admits he needs to improve his qualifying performances.
Chevrolet had an uncharacteristically tough weekend in Slovakia, with all three of their drivers encountering issues during the weekend. Rob Huff suffered his first retirement since the fourth round of the 2010 campaign in Marrakech – a run of forty eight races. He bounced back in the second race to secure his first victory of the season, and first since his Macau double in November.
Team-mate and Championship leader Yvan Muller was able to extend his Championship advantage despite being caught up in two separate incidents over the weekend. He was awarded a drive through penalty in the first race having spun out Michelisz while he was spun by former team-mate Tarquini in the second race. He arrives in Hungary with a twenty seven point advantage over Huff.
Having arrived in Slovakia as Muller’s closest rival, Alain Menu sits third arriving at the Hungaroring after his race two retirement in Slovakia. He had closed the gap to Muller to nine points after the first race, as he ended up as the sole Chevrolet in the points and on the podium.
Chevrolet will hope to repeat their double victory of 2011 and get their championship charge back on track after being defeated for the first time in Slovakia.
The bamboo engineering Chevrolet Cruze’s will also be looking for a return to form. After making a strong start in Italy, Alex MacDowall has struggled for form but is looking forward to the Hungarian weekend as he feels that the circuit is more akin to a British circuit. Pasquale Di Sabatino is still looking for his maiden top ten finish since his switch from Auto GP.
Having secured a brace of top ten finishes on the streets of Marrakech, Team Aon duo James Nash and Tom Chilton held high hopes for the Slovakian weekend.
Nash proved to be on the pace throughout practice and qualifying but was unable to demonstrate his race pace after being taken out on the opening lap of the first race – an incident which proved to be a weekend ending accident.
Chilton in the sister Team Aon Ford Focus also failed to finish the first race but responded with a tenth place finish in the second race of the weekend. The team will be at a disadvantage as they have never raced at the circuit before but are hopeful of some solid results as their development programme continues.
Returning to the Championship this weekend is James Thompson at the wheel of the LADA Grante Sport. The four times WTCC race winner tested the car at Magny Cours earlier in the week and is hopeful of a strong showing this weekend. Thompson will have one further run out in the car at Portugal, before a potential full campaign in 2013.
Will home support provide Michelisz with the perfect opportunity to secure his first outright victory since Macau 2009 or will another driver stop him from pleasing the home crowd?
Rounds nine and ten of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship will be shown live on Eurosport at 10am and 1.15pm Sunday, May 6th while Qualifying will be shown at 9.30 Sunday or at 7.30pm Saturday on Eurosport 2.
TouringCars.Net will provide full coverage of the weekend, with live coverage via the official TCN Twitter feed: @touringcarsnet.
Touring-Cars.Net Hungaroring Predictions:
Pole Position: Yvan Muller
Race 1: 1. Yvan Muller, 2. Norbert Michelisz, 3. Gabriele Tarquini
Race 2 Pole Position: Pepe Oriola
Race 2: 1. Norbert Michelisz, 2. Stefano d’Aste, 3. Rob Huff