The home circuit did not bring luck to Levente Losonczy as he was involved in accidents during both Saturday and Sunday at the TCR Europe round at the Hungaroring. As a result, he had to retire from the second race immediately after the start. However, the Aggressive Team Italia driver still gained valuable experience.
The fourth round of the TCR Europe championship, which also marked the final European venue of the World Tour, took place at another Grand Prix circuit, the Hungaroring. Thanks to its reputation, a strong field of competitors gathered, including Levente Losonczy from Aggressive Team Italia.
Even though the Hungaroring is Levente’s home track, one of the main tasks with the Hyundai Elantra N TCR is to gain experience at every venue. This was not helped this time by the fact that one of the two free practice sessions on Friday was washed away by rain, leaving the drivers with essentially 30 minutes of practice on a dry track.
Levente also faced two big challenges this weekend: one of his mentors from the Hungarian Motorsport Academy, Norbert Michelisz, also took to the track, and Kevin Ceccon, the former Auto GP champion and TCR Italy runner-up, joined him on the grid representing Aggressive Team Italia.
On Friday, Levente finished the free practice with a 14th and a 19th place, and then 18th in qualifying, 0.5 seconds behind the 15th-placed Ceccon. While he knew that he would face a tough race in the thick of the field, the time difference to his immediate rivals made him optimistic.
The expectations were confirmed on Saturday afternoon. Levente had a good start in the first race and held the 17th position for a while. However, he got involved in a battle and found himself sandwiched between two opponents in a racing situation. The right front suspension arm of his car bent, causing him to lose pace compared to his rivals. In the end, he crossed the finish line in 18th place.
Illustrious guests, unlucky start
On Sunday, a real competitive atmosphere greeted the teams and the growing crowd. The Hungarian Motorsport Academy driver was welcomed by Zoltán Szujó, President of the Hungarian National Autosport Association, and was also visited by the famous singer-actress Lola, who was also a guest of Aggressive Team Italia for a guided tour.
They couldn’t distract Levente from the rigorous program. After analyzing the data from Saturday, participating in the autograph session on Sunday, and completing the necessary warm-up, he started the second race at 12:05
Unfortunately, Levente’s race was short-lived as he became involved in an accident just a few meters after the start. Dusan Borkovic and Norbert Michelisz collided on the exit of turn 1, and Levente, being innocent in the incident, collided with Viktor Davidovski’s car as he tried to avoid the spinning cars. Levente managed to return to the pit with his damaged car, but there was no opportunity to continue the race this time.
In terms of results, the Hungaroring was not kind to the Hungarian drivers, but Levente was grateful to the fans for their support.
“It is a great feeling that so many people came to support Norbi Michelisz and me. It was great that so many people came and asked for signatures, everyone was happy and enthusiastic. We also welcomed guests, they had a great time and so did I during the race on Saturday. It’s a special experience to participate in a home race, I’ve never done this before,” said the Hungarian Motorsport Academy driver.
„My start on Sunday at the Hungaroring was as good as the others’ but then there was a chain reaction among the frontrunners: two rivals collided, one car spun Norbi Michelisz’s car, then an Audi tried to avoid him but eventually it hit him. That slowed him down and he bounced into the wall and then he was in front of me. I had nowhere to go and basically my race ended there.”
It was double trouble because we made some significant changes to the car setup after Saturday, which we wanted to test. I was expecting our pace to be good, so now we’ll have to wait until our next test in Mugello to find out. It’s a pity that Norbi and I didn’t have a good race on Sunday but thanks a lot for the fans and I’m grateful to my team Aggressive Team Italia, Pepe Oriola and Bálint Hatvani, Fit4Race, my father, our partners and the Hungarian Motorsport Academy for their support!
After the Hungaroring round Levente will concentrate again on his studies, next time he will race in the TCR Italy series in Mugello between 7-9 July 2023, and then he will race again in the TCR Europe series in Paul Ricard between 21-23 July 2023.
Levente Losonczy, TCR Europe Hungaroring results
First free practice: P14
Second free practice: P19
Qualifying session: P18
First race: P18
Second race: out
Standings: P14
