Zengő Motorsport will return to the FIA World Touring Car Cup in 2020 when it fields a CUPRA TCR for emerging Hungarian talent Bence Boldizs and one other driver when the season gets underway in September.
The Hungarian team has been a regular in World Touring Cars since 2010, but last year the team took a sabbatical from full-season competition, only running a wildcard entry at the Hungaroring in 2019.
For 2020 the team has signed 22-year-old Bence Boldizs to follow in the footsteps of former Zengő protégé and reigning champion Norbert Michelisz.
The team is also in talks with CUPRA about using the all-new León Competición in the forthcoming season, whilst the identity of Boldizs’ team-mate will be revealed in due course.
Boldizs won two talent-search competitions to begin his career, and then competed in the Hankook Racer Cup at the wheel of a Suzuki Swift in Hungary to learn the ropes, just like compatriots Dániel Nagy and Attila Tassi.
Last year Boldizs switched to rallycross racing, finishing second in the national championship, before landing a drive with Zengő for 2020 after a successful test at the Hungaroring.
“The Suzuki was 100 bhp, the TCR car is like 360 hp so it’s a big step up for me,” said Boldizs. “For the first year and the first couple of races, the most important thing is to learn as much as I can because we are in the learning phase right now and the results are not the most important thing.
“I know the Hungaroring, I know Slovakiaring, but I’ve never been to the other tracks before.
“It’s a pleasure [to work with Zoltan Zengő, Team Principal]. We all know Zengő Motorsport has a history in World Touring Car racing and it was Zoltán Zengő who chose Norbert Michelisz.
“I am so grateful to the team, to my family, really it’s a miracle this is happening.”
Team boss Zengő admits that he can see a potential champion in Boldizs, to follow in the footsteps of Michelisz, who is the country’s first FIA World Champion.
“Zengő Motorsport’s mission is to give young and talented drivers like Bence an opportunity,” explained Zengő. “He has already proved his abilities in the Hankook Racer Cup and I see a potential champion in him.
“We are always following the careers of young drivers. We would like to thank the manager of George Racing Team, Gábor György, for giving us all the useful info about Bence and helping us choosing him from the many other young, talented Hungarian drivers.
“We do not have big goals for his first season. I want him to gain as much experience as possible and to cover many kilometres on track with the most professional drivers and learn from the best.
“There are many talented Hungarian drivers, but we believe that Bence and Zengő Motorsport can reach big goals in the coming years.
“We would like to give him as many testing opportunities as possible and our engineers are prepared to use the many gigabytes of data from the last years to help Bence on this tough road.
“We have completed a whole day of testing when Bence could complete eight sessions of 30 minutes in racing conditions and the results from that day are promising.
“His time was one of the fastest in the car he was driving. He’s also doing some sim championships with support from our engineers.”
Of the team’s second driver, Zengő believes it will come as a surprise to the numerous Hungarian fans of WTCR.
“We are close to signing the contract with an experienced, talented driver whose name will surprise the Hungarian fans. I believe that him, Bence and Zengő Motorsport can reach big goals in WTCR.”