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Zsolt Szabo to complete the season with Zengõ Motorsport

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Zengõ Motorsport have confirmed that 21-year-old Hungarian Zsolt Szabo will race with them for the remaining four rounds of this year’s World Touring Car Championship, following on from his debut in Argentina back in July.

Szabo finished 13th and 15th in his first two races in the WTCC, driving the team’s second Honda Civic WTCC, and though the team’s original intention was to rotate the seat between its other ETCC and TCR series drivers Norbert Nagy and Ferenz Ficza, the plan is now for Szabo to partner 19-year-old Dániel Nagy for the final races in China, Japan, Macau and Qatar.

“I’m really glad and can’t wait to drive again,” said Szabo. “My aim in Argentina was to learn as much as I could to hopefully get another chance so it’s really worked out for me.

“It’s going to be a huge challenge because I am using the 2015-specification engine in my car and I don’t have the experience. But I have a great opportunity and maybe if things go my way and I go as fast as possible, I can score some points.”

Team principal Zoltan Zengõ added: “I am very happy to give Zsolt this chance. He showed he could be very fast and comfortable in the car without the experience and
also showed that he could learn the car. He’s a good talent, and with Dániel it’s the perfect team.”

Szabo took over from Aurélien Panis, after the French driver left the team to join Boutsen Ginion Racing in the TCR International Series. Panis had a tough first six races in the WTCC, with two tenth places as his best result. The 22-year-old recently won his first race in TCR, leading from start-to-finish in the reversed grid second race in Thailand.

Szabo will continue to compete with Zengõ in the European Touring Car Cup, where he won last time out in Portugal, racing again this weekend in a SEAT León TCR at Zolder.