The fourth race meeting of the season will take place at Budapest’s Hungaroring next week, marking the WTCC’s first visit to Hungary and its 4.4-km circuit that is home to the Formula One Grand Prix since 1986.
However, the Hungaroring had hosted once the FIA European Touring Car in 2001 when Fabrizio Giovanardi (Alfa Romeo) and Roberto Colciago (Audi A4) shared victories in the Super Touring class, while Duncan Huisman (BMW) won the Super Production race.
The World Championship stops in Budapest after Chevrolet and Rob Huff have nearly monopolised the attention in the three previous events. The twisty layout of the Hungarian track is due to suit better to the SEAT and BMW cars than Monza’s long straights.
It is still uncertain whether Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro, the fastest drivers in the SEAT patrol, will swap from the current 2.0 TDi to the 1.6-litre turbo engine developed by SUNRED in cooperation with Lehmann Motorentechnik.
At the same time the new BMW 320 TC seems to have the potential to claim its first race win. Tom Coronel and Norbert Michelisz have great expectations to shine in Budapest, especially the young Hungarian who came close to a podium finish in Monza and will race in front of his enthusiastic fans.
Hungarian motor sport fans will be cheering for Norbert Michelisz at Budapest
NO CHANGES TO THE COMPENSATION WEIGHT
In Budapest there will be non changes to the weights of the different cars compared to Monza.
The compensation weight system based on the lap times set in the three previous events (Brazil, Belgium and Italy) identified the Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T as the reference model and allocated 40 extra kilos to the five cars ran by Chevrolet-RML and bamboo-engineering. Both, the SEAT León TDi and the BMW 320 TC won’t have any weight added, while the Volvo C30 and BMW 320si will benefit from a 20-kg reduction of their minimum weights.
However these weights may change, should SEAT and Volvo cars switch to the 1.6 turbo engine. In this case they would receive the maximum compensation weight as per art. 79 B5) of the Sporting Regulations.
Compensation weight Budapest
+ 40 kg: Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
± 0 kg: SEAT León TDI, BMW 320 TC
– 20 kg: BMW 320si, Volvo C30
The Chevrolet Cruze cars will run on the maximum weight once again
BICYCLE TRAINING FOR YVAN MULLER
Reigning WTCC champion Yvan Muller keeps on training for his future participation in the Le Mans 24-Hours of cycling that will take place on August 20 and 21.
In order to improve his form, Muller took part last Sunday in "La Gianoise" race that brings the competitos to climb on the Swiss mountains for 40 kilometres and up to 1080 metres. He managed to complete the race in 2 hours and 16 minutes, improving his last year’s time. This Sunday he will pedal around the Leman lake for a total of 180 km.
FREDY BARTH WINS GT4 IN SPAIN
Fredy Barth claimed victory in the GT4 class during the second round of the Blancpain Enfudrance Series, last Sunday at Navarra, Spain.
The Swiss driver shared a Lotus Evora car run by the Lechner Racing Team with fellow countrymen Lorenz Frey and Rolf Maritz. After setting pole position, they fought for victory with the Lotus Evora driven by Piscopo and Nigel Mansell’s sons Leo and Greg, and the Nissan 370Z of Buncombe-Tresson-Ward.
Eventually Barth, Frey and Maritz won the race with a 2-lap margin.
HUNGARIAN TOURISM SPONSORS BUDAPEST EVENT
Eurosport Events announced the Hungarian National Tourist Office as the Event Presenting Partner of the WTCC Race of Hungary that is hosted by Budapest’s Hungaroring next weekend.
As title sponsor, the Hungarian National Tourist Office will benefit from a premium visibility on TV, the internet and on-site. This sponsorship agreement is further enhanced by an international multimedia advertising campaign on Eurosport and Eurosport 2 channels and on Eurosport’s websites and also includes a global broadcast agreement that will see many exciting sporting events in Hungary aired on Eurosport channels.