Ferenc Ficza and Dusan Borkovic share joint lead of SMT after Hungary

Zengő Motorsport’s Ferenc Ficza won the first race of the FIA European Touring Car Cup on Sunday, while Dusan Borkovic won the second race in an identical SEAT León Cup Racer, both driving for Hungarian teams at the Hungaroring circuit, and share the lead of the standings heading to the next round.

The first race was full of contact at the front, with the SEATs of Petr Fulín, Mat’o Homola and Dusan Borkovic all involved in incidents, which saw Borkovic given a drive-through penalty and forced to recover through the field.

Ficza remained in second overall behind the TC2T class BMW 320 TC of Davit Kajaia, and was still on course for the class win, but a mistake by Kajaia on the final lap allowed Ficza through into the lead to take the victory, foreshadowing the same feat that would be achieved by fellow countryman and team-mate Norbert Michelisz in the second WTCC race later in the day.

In race two, Ficza finished second behind Dusan Borkovic, taking a haul of 18 points from the weekend, matched by Borkovic who also picked up three points for pole position on Saturday.

“It was a good feeling, it’s a fantastic feeling (to win) in front of my home crowd,” said Ficza.

“I saw at the start (of race one) there were a lot of incidents, so I just wanted to wait a bit and see what happens. During the second race, I was just aiming to score some good points.”

Borkovic was delighted to be fighting at the front again following a troubled start to the year.

“In the first race I started from pole, but I’m a little bit heavier so on the straight they were a little bit faster, so I lost two or three places at the beginning,” said Borkovic to TouringCarTImes.

“In the second race I pushed two or three laps to get into first place, and after that I was just controlling the rhythm,” he added. “I felt really nice in the car. We all have the same cars, though I am a little bit heavier, but this is a long season and it will be a good fight.”