Race preview: Home stars Hungary for WTCR action

Hopes of Hungarian success in the WTCR − FIA World Touring Car Cup will rest on the shoulders of three star drivers when the series visits the Hungaroring next weekend (June 11-12). Norbert Michelisz, the 2019 King of WTCR, joins rising talents Dániel Nagy and Attila Tassi in flying the Magyarország zászlaja at the 4.381-kilometre valley of speed, built for the 1986 Hungarian Grand Prix and a WTCR mainstay since the series was launched in 2018. Ad/> Michelisz, 37, is the elder statesmen of the trio, but his speed and desire have never been in question.

Nagy, 24, had braced himself for a season on the sidelines until a phone call from Zoltán Zengő, the revered Hungarian talent-backer and team boss who gave Michelisz his big break back in 2005, handed him a late deal to contest a full WTCR season for the first time. Tassi, meanwhile, is the young gun of the group, albeit just two years Nagy’s junior. WTCRWTCR Race of Hungary key timings revealed13 HOURS AGO Like Michelisz, Tassi is a WTCR race winner and lists a victory at the Hungaroring on his flourishing CV to boot.

But their respective attempts to increase their WTCR winning were thwarted at the season-opening WTCR Clean Fuels for All Race of France last month when they collided within metres of charging off from the front row of the Race 2 grid. Reflecting on the incident, Tassi, who drives a Honda Civic Type R TCR for LIQUI MOLY Team Engstler, said: “The past is the past, it’s happened and we go forward, fighting harder for better results. Immediately after the incident Norbi came to me and apologised.