Christjohannes Schreiber claimed a dramatic victory double as the FIA European Touring Car Cup once again delivered action aplenty at the Hungaroring. After fending off home racer Zsolt Dávid Szabó for Race 1 glory, Schreiber took full advantage when Peter Rikli, his Honda-driving team-mate and fellow Swiss, retired with driveshaft failure on the final lap.

But rather than cruise to his second win of the weekend and his third of the season, Schreiber faced a determined late challenge from Alexandr Artemyev, which he just managed to resist.

Norbert Nagy, Szabó’s Zengő Motorsport team-mate, was third in both races with Igor Stefanovski following him home in Race 1 and Petr Fulín finishing behind in Race 2 having continued following a collision with Szabó.

RACE 1 REPORT: SCHREIBER HOLDS OFF SZABÓ FOR ETCC GOLD

Christjohannes Schreiber held on to win a thrilling Race 1 at FIA ETCC Race of Hungaroring, just doing enough to beat home hero Zsolt Dávid Szabó. Szabó started from pole but a poor getaway dropped him to sixth and allowed Schreiber through into the lead from third. While Schreiber edged ahead, Szabó began a thrilling fight back, passing Zengő Motorsport team-mate Norbert Nagy for second place on the inside of Turn 5 on lap seven. He then set about catching Schreiber and momentarily took the lead at the penultimate corner on lap 10 following contact between the pair. Szabó gave the place back on the run up to the final corner and attempted to pass again at Turn 5 on the last lap but slid wide, leaving Schreiber to take the win ahead of the recovering Szabó and Nagy, extending his title lead in the process. Igor Stefanovski finished fourth with Peter Rikli fifth having been second at one stage before brake issues intervened. Petr Fulín started from the back row but finished sixth in his understeering SEAT with Fábio Mota seventh and Mladen Lalušić eighth, which gave the Serbian driver pole for the reverse grid second race. Andreas Pfister pitted on the final lap with a puncture but was classified ahead of ETCC newcomer Rudolf Pesovic. Alexandr Artemyev, who was stripped of pole position for not stopping for a weight during Saturday qualifying finished P10 having received a time penalty for a track limits infringement.

RACE 2 REPORT: DOUBLE ETCC DELIGHT FOR SIZZLING SCHREIBER

Christjohannes Schreiber made it two wins from two following another action-packed counter at FIA ETCC Race of Hungaroring. Starting eighth on the reverse grid, the Swiss took the lead when team-mate and compatriot Peter Rikli suffered driveshaft failure with the finish in sight and fended off a late challenge from Kazakhstan’s Alexandr Artemyev. Hungary’s Norbert Nagy completed the podium, much to the joy of his home fans, who had been disappointed earlier in the race when Zsolt Dávid Szabó crashed out after contact with Petr Fulín. Although the Hungarian’s SEAT was badly damaged, Szabó was given the all-clear following a visit to the medical centre, as Fulín continued to the finish in fourth place. Rikli had taken the lead on the run to the first corner and was still holding firm in front following once the safety car, deployed to allow trackside marshals to recover Szabó’s wrecked car, only for late heartache to cancel out yet another victory challenge. Mladen Lalušić, who started on the reverse-grid pole, took fifth with Andreas Pfister sixth, Rudolf Pesovic seventh and Igor Stefanovski completing the scorers, one place ahead of Hungarian lady driver Anett György. Stefanovski had been in contention for a podium finish but a drive-through penalty for a jumped start dropped him back. Fábio Mota joined Lalušić on the front row but dropped out of contention after early-race contact. A broken driveshaft on his Audi in Race 1 meant Plamen Kralev was a non-starter in Race 2.

POST-RACE QUOTES:

Christjohannes Schreiber (Race 1 and Race 2 winner): “Honestly, Race 1 was one of the hardest of my career. I saw the green car getting bigger and bigger in my mirror towards the end of the race and I tried not to overrun the car, to stay focused and at the end I had to defend a little bit. But I'm just so happy that it was enough to beat him [Szabó], he's one hell of a fast driver, I can tell you. In Race 2 I just tried to manage my tyres and my brakes as well as possible and of course I wanted to attack Peter [Rikli] towards the end of the race like I did in Monza. Today it was not necessary. Of course, I was struggling at the limit but as I said, I tried to manage my material, because I was struggling a little bit with overheating brakes and overheated tyres. Today it was very important to have a driving style that is not really hard on the car, tyres and brakes.”

Zsolt Dávid Szabó (Race 1 second position): “I have never had as big crash as this one because I just started racing so basically this is my second racing weekend but I did not feel pain, it was not so serious. I am rather afraid what happened with the car. But I am very satisfied with my second position in Race 1 – I did not expect to have such a good start in the ETCC.”

Norbert Nagy (Race 1 and Race 2 third position): “After some laps of Race 1 I felt the set-up was not so good in my car and my front tyres were overheated. I let ‘Zsolty’ overtake me to try and catch Schreiber. In the second race I don't know what happened at the start but there was some kind of electronics problem. After that I just managed my race to do good laps and to overtake everybody. It’s a tough race for me because I got from last position to third. It's a shame ‘Zsolty’ crashed the car but in Germany we will come back.”

RESULTS/STANDINGS: https://www.fiaetcc.com/event/etcc-race-of-hungaroring/

NEXT RACE: ETCC Race of Nürburgring Nordschleife, 25-27 May