Mikel Azcona became the first two-time ‘King of the Weekend’ in the PURE ETCR round at the Hungaroring, with the CUPRA driver now third in the drivers’ standings leaving the penultimate event of the year.
Spaniard Azcona was undefeated in Hungary, having claimed a SuperFinal victory against title rival Jean-Karl Vernay on Sunday.
He was particularly happy to claim victory at the home circuit for Zengő Motorsport, and thanked the efforts of team-mates Mattias Ekström, Jordi Gené and Dániel Nagy.
“I feel really, really happy to be King of the Weekend again here at the Hungaroring, the home track for my team, Zengő Motorsport,” said Azcona.
“After a really tough weekend in Denmark, we are back again so it gives me really a lot of confidence for the next races and for the finale in France.
“I’m very proud of the team; I have to say thank you to Mattias, Jordi and Dani, because we were working really hard during the weekend to have a perfect car. My team-mates are very experienced drivers, and we could manage it perfectly.
“I felt quite good with the car in the SuperFinal, even also on the time trial lap, so I am very pleased. I cannot wait to go to France – I’m really happy.”
Azcona was kept honest in the SuperFinal by Hyundai’s Vernay, and he admitted that as a result he had used a lot more of his power-ups early in the race.
“I felt him [Vernay], he was very aggressive on the first corners, but for the second one I had the inside, so I said ‘OK, it’s my position’ but in the last moment I saw he had gone to the inside.
“I gave him space to not have some contact, because I know in the SuperFinals we have five laps, so it’s a long race.
“After that, on the exit of the straight, I could manage perfectly the power-up, so I took the first position again.
“At this point I felt his front bumper was very close to my rear bumper on the next corner so I was a little bit nervous in this moment, because I felt he was very strong!
“I decided to use a lot of the power up to get some distance and then to relax a little bit, because he was very close and I was not so comfortable.
“After that I could manage pretty well the distance and the car. The car felt really good, so I could manage it.”
Azcona is third in the drivers’ standings with 238 points, 35 behind series leader and team-mate Ekström.