Photo: WTCC Media

Zengõ pair Daniel Nagy & Aurélien Panis geared up for new season

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Zengõ Motorsport will be back for the 2017 World Touring Car Championship season, with 18-year-old Daniel Nagy from Hungary now joined by the first non-Hungarian to race for the team, Aurélien Panis, with the duo looking forward to the challenge ahead as the sole privateer Honda squad.

Nagy will be taking part in his first full season of the WTCC, after starting late in 2016 due to the last-minute nature of his programme, meaning he had to wait for his engine to be built by Honda’s engine partners Mugen, joining the championship half-way through the season in Portugal.

Panis meanwhile, the son of ex-Formula One driver Olivier, will embark on his first season in touring cars with Zengõ, with the team running dual programmes in both the WTCC with Honda and in TCR with Kia.

“We’ve got a lot of very good knowledge from last year with this car,” said Nagy to TouringCarTimes. “Yes, it’ll be the same car as last year, with the 2015 version of the Honda (engine), and we’ll aim for points, and maybe if the rain comes or something like that we can have some very good results.”

Panis switches from the Formula V8 3.5 Series to the WTCC, going from a rear-wheel drive single seater to a front-wheel drive touring car without any testing, which the 22-year-old admits will be a challenge, even though he’ll run with newer upgrades than his team-mate with support from Honda France.

“I’ve not yet tested the car, so it’ll be it a bit tough at the beginning of the season,” said Panis to TouringCarTimes. “We may test for just one day, so the goal will be to gain experience and get as quickly as we can towards the top.

“It’s a really nice opportunity for me to drive in this World Championship. It’s something totally new for me, as in the past I’ve just driven in single seaters, so it’ll be the first time for me in a touring car, in a front-wheel drive car. But I’m very happy with this challenge, and it’ll be a great opportunity for my career with with Zengo, which is a really nice team, and with the support of Honda.”