After racing as a wildcard during the first season of the WTCR − FIA World Touring Car Cup in 2018, Dániel Nagy gets his long-awaited opportunity to race for real in season five of the all-action series.
The 24-year-old from Hungary has rejoined Zengő Motorsport, which gave Nagy his FIA World Touring Car Championship break as a teenager in 2016, to drive a Goodyear-equipped CUPRA Leon Competición, starting with WTCR Clean Fuels For All Race of France from May 7-8. He’ll be in the same team as Rob Huff, the 2012 FIA Word Touring Car Championship winner and has high hopes.
On getting the good news…
“I was waiting for a chance for the last couple of years to drive a full season in WTCR but it never came and when I thought there was not the chance to race this year I decided I would stop trying this year. Then I got a phone call from a good friend, Zoltán Zengő, asking me if I would join his team and Rob Huff in trying to continue his dream of putting Hungarian engineers and young drivers to the top of the touring car field around the world and I said ‘yes’.”
On improving and progressing…
“I would say I have improved in different areas so my understanding of vehicle dynamics is better, my understanding of how I can be closer to my limits and even expanding them is much better. I think my raw pace is also better.”
On having the perfect teacher…
“Rob was always really nice to me even when I was a backrunner in WTCC in an old car. He’s already helping me a lot and it’s a wonderful chance for me to learn from one of the biggest touring car legends. It means a lot to me and hopefully it will help me to continue my learning curve that we started a couple of years ago.”
On being satisfied…
“I have had enough of running at the back of the field and when Zoltán called me I started working to figure out what our possibilities are this year against big teams with world-class drivers who have done a lot of testing. I want to make sure we have some chances to gain some podiums and my goal is to win at least one race in the top level of touring cars, this would make me satisfied and something that would live with me forever. If somebody asks you a couple of years later what you have done in motorsport and you can proudly tell them I won a world series race that would be a very good special.”
On the season ahead…
“Motorsport is not easy and for sure we’ll have to be careful in the beginning of the season to get to know the car, the tyre and some of the race tracks. I have to remember I missed one year [racing TCR cars] so we have to work hard to build the pace and the consistency. But I hope my experience from the past can help me and I know I have improved in many areas since my career began.”
