No, the title is not clickbait, we really finished the Hungarian round of the Clio Cup Europe with a seventh place and a podium. In the second race, we managed to climb to seventh place, and I also finished third in the Challengers Cup, so I received a trophy. Let me tell you what happened.
Background:
We wanted to participate in this year’s championship with a fully funded budget for the entire season. We needed around 18-20 million Hungarian Forints in addition to our own savings by the end of last year, which would cover the entire season, including 12 extra sets of tires and testing. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make it happen. It’s disheartening that such a large amount cannot be raised from sponsors here in Hungary. The entry fees from race to race are much less favorable.
BUT! The donation program continued to work. Granted, not as much as in 2022 when hundreds of people supported me, but it transformed. A dedicated core group sent monthly donations, some even 6-7 times. We managed to secure the support of Mabanol’s Hungarian distributor, Miroil Kft., and the previous year’s „miracle worker” SZB Bádog Kft. returned for the domestic race. ToyoTeam Garage and SpuriNeked also reappeared on my car. The series organizer, Alpine, also helped, especially with the restoration of my heavily damaged car, which was beneficial but still not cheap.
My biggest supporters are still you and the donors. And last but not least, my family, who stood behind me with superhuman dedication, working overtime and taking on extra jobs.
The result was that I was once again at the Hungaroring for the third race of this year’s Clio Cup Europe Championship. With you!
Something’s not right with this car
Let’s not misunderstand, there’s not a major issue with the car, but here at the Hungaroring, it constantly „tortured” me last year, and it was no different this time. During the first practice session, on old worn tires and a dirty track, despite a big mistake (3-4 tenths), I easily ran 2:06 and then 2:05 laps. And I didn’t slow down but actually got faster throughout the 30-minute session, setting my best lap time on the final lap. I finished ninth. Without the mistake, I could have been in 5th or 6th place.
In the second practice session, we put on the worn tires from this season, probably the ones that were left from Monza. The car reacted to the right tires in a way that I slowed down to 2:06.984. That means I was one second slower, although it was much hotter at that time, and the engine doesn’t like that. However, in the leading group, we only saw a slowdown of 2-3 tenths. Later on, I couldn’t achieve the same lap time as in the first practice session. In fact, I was even faster during last weekend’s race when I first got in the car!
We couldn’t do anything else, so we tried to push the settings to the extreme, reducing the load on the front axle. We turned the car into extreme oversteer, to the point where theoretically I should have arrived at the first turn sideways from the first lap.
That didn’t happen. Actually, nothing happened because during the Saturday qualifying session, the high-pressure fuel pump broke down as soon as I started my first fast lap. That was the end of my qualifying. Last place, 25th position. And we didn’t know if the adjustments.
The first race from 25th place
I started the first race from the last position, 25th place. I actually dozed off at the start, and I noticed the light late, which was right next to me, and the start line was far away, so I couldn’t see it. It wasn’t a problem, as I caught up with the field by the braking zone, and quickly made progress up to 18th place. However, it felt like hitting a wall, the car simply wouldn’t turn. I had overheated the front tires.
I tried to stay in the midfield, but it was difficult. There were several drivers ahead of me battling each other, and one of them lost control in the „Alesi” corner, slid off the racing line, and when I approached him, he came back onto the track in front of me. He spun himself around and crashed into the wall. I couldn’t do anything to avoid it, as there were cars behind me and nowhere to go. I’m sorry for what happened.
Due to this incident, the Safety Car was deployed, which saved the race as I could cool down my tires. I was able to attack again, gained two positions, and after a penalty, I finished in 15th place.
I wasn’t too bothered by that; I’m satisfied with the result. However, my fastest lap was 1.2 seconds slower than the race winner’s. Even though we were all fighting our way through, I can’t attribute my performance to being stuck in traffic. My car simply didn’t behave the way I wanted it to.
I had a decent qualifying session followed by a fantastic second race.
We made further adjustments to the car, hoping to achieve a breakthrough, but it didn’t happen. In the second qualifying session, the car was slightly better, and I managed to qualify in 11th place with a time of 2:06.016. However, I was still almost a second behind the pole position. This put me in the midst of the mid-pack battle.
The start of the race went well for me as I climbed up to 9th place. However, Alejandro Schipf easily pushed me off the track and then widened the track to overtake me, causing me to lose two positions and drop back to 11th place. In the third lap, I caught up to Cimenes, and I wasn’t gentle with him, reminding him a bit of Monza (he put me into the wall). It wasn’t revenge, just a reminder that I remember.
In the sixth lap, I finally caught up to the pack, but there was a back-and-forth battle going on that I didn’t want to get involved in, as it involved drivers I knew it was better to avoid contact with. I didn’t come out of that situation well as Franca overtook me, but I managed to regain my position.
Unfortunately, all the drivers ahead of me kept leaving the track continuously, and I thought they would eventually receive penalties for it. I was playing by the rules and didn’t engage in any illegal maneuvers, but of course, that made me slower. In the end, no penalties were given to anyone. I don’t understand this because in previous races, time penalties were flying left and right.
In the final laps, Alejandro Schipf continued to be the one causing trouble, pushing me off the track, making wide moves, and being extremely aggressive throughout. In the last lap, he completely lost his mind, came at me again, and then got tired of it and simply cut the chicane to overtake me. I knew that the 7th position was rightfully mine, I just had to wait for the official results to confirm it.
That’s how it turned out. The final results arrived at 10 PM, and Alejandro Schipf received a penalty (1 second), which pushed me up to the seventh position. As a result, I secured the third place in the Challengers Cup and was able to go collect my trophy. He wasn’t pleased about it.
Overall, the 15th and 7th positions are not so good, but not bad either. Secretly, I was hoping for a podium finish, but we don’t have the pace at the Hungaroring. Whether it’s the car, the setup, or my driving style, I don’t know. Although, if I had to be frank, I would say that this car is already worn out. It’s in its first season, nearly four years old, and it has been through everything.
The important thing is that I was back on the starting grid. Whether this will happen again this year, I don’t know. We have exhausted all our reserves. I hope to be back on the race track soon. My support page is still active, and you can contribute by purchasing t-shirts. There will be new ones available as well.