Gábor Wéber confirmed to miss Brazil

Gábor Wéber will miss the next round of the World Touring Car Championship, and possibly the remainder of the season. The Hungarian’s budget only extended to the six European rounds of the Championship, and the 40-year-old is focussed on securing sponsorship for a full season in 2013.

The Zengõ Motorsport team have only shipped Norbert Michelisz’s BMW 320 TC out to Curitiba for the next round of the Championship. The team expanded to a two-car effort for this season, after first running a SEAT León TDI for Michelisz in 2010 before switching to the BMW last season, and then purchasing independents’ champion Kristian Poulsen’s car for this year for Wéber.

“Entering a second car has been a huge achievement and a great opportunity for the team,” said Zengõ Team Manager György Juni. “We knew from the start that funding Wéber’s overseas races was problematic. We managed to buy the car at the last moment, which didn’t make things easier. Wéber has been through a difficult period as he had to adapt to WTCC without any testing.”

Wéber showed a recent improvement in performance, taking seventh on the grid at Portimão but was caught up in incidents in both races. His best result of the year was ninth at the Slovakiaring in April, and as a result sits in 20th place in the drivers’ standings, and 10th in the Yokohama Independents’ Trophy.

“It has been a valuable experience, especially adjusting myself to rear-wheel drive after years of racing front-wheel drive cars,” said Wéber. “Motorsport at this level is not forgiving; I made a few mistakes, had some bad luck, but all in all I felt (I was) getting better with every weekend and being seventh in qualifying at Portimão was a good way to finish the European season. My plan is to continue in WTCC, maybe even this year, but the main goal is to race a full campaign in 2013.”