Photo: WTCR

Tyre focus as WTCR heads to a very warm Hungaroring

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The FIA World Touring Car Cup heads to the Hungaroring this weekend for round three of 2022, a round where all eyes will be on the Goodyear tyres following the cancelled Nürburgring races.

While Goodyear confirmed it had not found any production issues with the tyres, a test of alternative compounds has been completed ahead of the weekend.

No results are as of yet made public but there is an additional test preliminarily scheduled for Friday afternoon at the Hungaroring, most likely to verify any changes to the tyre compounds.

Adding further to the drama is that very warm weather conditions are forecasted for the race weekend in Hungary, including thunderstorms.

All this makes predictions ahead of the weekend more than difficult, as well as what to expect of the tyre situation.

But the Audis of Comtoyou Racing showed very strong pace at the Nürburgring, locking out the front row in qualifying before the races were cancelled.

And the German cars will run without added compensation weight, despite the weights being calculated on qualifying results, meaning we are likely to see a strong showing from the Comtoyou Racing-prepared cars this weekend as well.

The Lynk & Co squad Cyan Racing were strong in the Nürburgring qualifying as well, with Santiago Urrutia and Yann Ehrlacher being closest to the Audi drivers in third and fourth.

Urrutia won a race at the Hungaroring last year and reigning champion Ehrlacher is chasing big points after a tough start to the season so far.

A question mark is however placed on potential further tyre issues for the Swedish team as they were one of the most affected at the Nürburgring.

Local hero Norbert Michelisz of Hyundai can never be excluded from the top fight at his home race at the Hungaroring and team-mate Mikel Azcona has showed impressive pace so far this season.

The Honda drivers of Münnich Motorsport and Engstler Motorsport are likely to face a tough time at the Hungaroring, still carrying the maximum of 40kg of compensation weight and were, just as Cyan Racing, suffering a lot of tyre issues at the Nürburgring.

Local team Zengo Motorsport with drivers Rob Huff and Dániel Nagy have traditionally performed well at the Hungaroring and could spring a surprise this weekend.

The weekend starts, pending the preliminary Friday test, on Saturday with free practice and qualifying, followed by two races on Sunday.

Schedule Hungaroring
Saturday – June 11th
09:15 – FP1
13:10 – FP2
15:35 – Qualifying

Sunday – June 12th
11:20 – Race 1
16:45 – Race 2
Times in CEST