Route to Budapest, Hungary

The WTCC competitors won’t have a break after this weekend’s race meeting at the Slovakia Ring, as the next event takes place at the Hungaroring on May 6.

This spectacular racetrack that is located 20 km North-East of Budapest, Hungary’s capital city, is home to the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix since 1986.

The FIA World Touring Car Championship returns to the Hungaroring for the second time, after it visited it for the first time last year. That maiden appearance turned into a great success, also thanks to local hero Norbert Michelisz, whose popularity attracted an impressive crowd of Hungarian fans.

Unfortunately Michelisz did not achieve the results he was aiming for, and although he claimed a brilliant second place in the first race, he spoiled his chances with a crash at the start of the second race and had to pit for repair. The fact that he set the fastest lap, despite his BMW car had suffered from extensive damage, proved that he could win that race. And this year he wishes to make up for that disappointment.

In 2011 Chevrolet team mates Alain Menu and Yvan Muller shared race victories.

F1 AND WTCC CARS RAN DOWNTOWN BUDAPEST

Four WTCC drivers took part yesterday in the centre of Budapest in a spectacular event organized by the Hungaroring to promote both the Formula One Grand Prix and this weekend’s WTCC races.

Hungarian drivers Norbert Michelisz and Gábor Wéber with their Zengö Motorsport BMW 320 TC cars, Tom Boardman in his Special Tuning Racing’s SEAT León TDi and Pasquale Di Sabatino’s Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T took turns with Jenson Button’s McLaren F1 to accelerate on a four-kilometres street-course from the central Erzsébet tér (Elizabeth square) and along Bajcsy-Zsilinszky and Alkotmány utca.

In a sunny and hot afternoon nearly 500,000 spectators have crowded along the streets to watch the racing cars at speed.