Zengő Motorsport back at full strength as Dániel Nagy returns

Dániel Nagy will make his return action in the World Touring Car Cup this weekend following the finger injury that ruled him out the last event in Italy.

Nagy sustained the injury in an accident in Portugal and was unable to compete at Vallelunga, although the damage to his car may have ruled him out regardless.

However, Nagy – who admits he isn’t sure exactly what happened in the Portuguese shunt – has now been passed fit to race, whilst a replacement Cupra Leon Competición has been prepared that will allow him to take his place on the grid at Anneau du Rhin this weekend – a circuit where he expects the racing to be a challenge.

“It may not be easy to overtake at the end of the back straight, because there is a fast chicane before the straight, in which it is not easy to create a pace difference,” he said.

“Perhaps it will be possible to overtake towards the end of the first sector, on the inner part, where there is a left-right combination that accelerates to the straight. The track looks relatively wide there, and there might be more then one lines.

“The difficulty is that I don’t think this track was built primarily for larger competitions. It feels a bit like the Euroring at home. It seems ideal for track days and testing.”

Whilst Nagy has scored a best finish of fourth so far, team-mate Rob Huff sits third in the points having added a win in Portugal to three second place finishes.

It means the Briton has already scored twice as many points as he did in all of the 2021 season, with Nagy admitting he seemed more at one in his surroundings.

“Speaking to him, it feels he is very comfortable with the team,” he said. “Last year he seemed quite stressed, but this year I think he is much more relaxed. He seems to be the type of driver who needs this relaxed atmosphere to be at his best.

“I had a world champion team mate only once, when Norbi Michelisz accompanied me in TCR Europe for one weekend. Now, for the first time, I can watch a former world champion for a long time, and what I see is that he almost never makes mistakes in the important moments. I hardly remember him making a mistake in a qualifying lap.

“I think he is in the same form now as he was when he became world champion. Or rather, he is in such a form that he can become a world champion if the conditions are ideal.”

Additional reporting by Andras Lantos