News

The second race of the Hankook RCM Cup on the Pannóniaring turned out to be full of excitement, twists and turns and some dramatic events as well. Mika Morien took his first ever victory in the series with a stellar performance. The young Dutchman started from the pole after making a spectacular comeback from the last row to P8 in Race One. The joy of Zsille Motorsport was doubled by the second place of Bálint Hatvani, who played rear guard to Morien.

Behind them however a fierce battle emerged between the title aspirants. As far as the frontrunners are concerned, Attila Tassi (RCM Motorsport) started from P5 followed by Norbert Nagy (RCM), Gábor Tim (Apex Racing) and Dániel Nagy (George Racing team). The atmosphere heated up around them right after the start.

Numerous accidents, crashes and rubbing happened between them, a picture of the title holder’s car can tell more than a thousand words, and they gave a lot of material to the stewards to discuss. Although Tim finished third he was later given a 20 seconds penalty for dangerous driving and got relegated to P8. This decision was not without a precedent as the former Suzuki-champion was handed a formal reprimand in Rijeka for the same reason.

Unfortunately the string of events continued after the race in the paddock which resulted in an investigation of the MNASZ Ethic Committee against Apex Racing. There was a previous incident at the team of Gábor Tim on the Slovakiaring which is also involved in the investigation. More details to come after the decision of the committee.

Dániel Nagy was promoted to P3 after the penalty of Tim and the George Racing Team driver is followed by Attila Tassi, Norbert Nagy, Bence Boldizs and Máté Benyó on the official sheet. Teams had to wait hours for the final results as track limit rules were taken very strictly by the stewards and a formidable number of time penalties were handed out.

Neither Gergő Báldi (B3 Racing) nor Zoltán Bárkovics (Zsille) was able to finish race two after a crash. The former Suzuki-champion had a sudden brake failure (due to the intensive using of kerbs) and he could not avoid crashing into the young newcomer. Although Báldi was able to get back to the track he pitted with a damaged car.

The race among the rookies was naturally won by Morien, while Anett György managed to bite back after being beaten by Veronika Vanyova on Saturday (both George Racing Team).

After the dramatic events on the Pannóniaring Tim’s advantage was cut back to a mere seven points to Dániel Nagy, while Mika Morien climbed up to P3 with his victory. A huge battle is on the horizon for the last place on the overall podium as the young Dutchman trained by Niels Langeveld is only separated by six points from Tassi and seven from Norbert Nagy.

The Ladies’ Trophy is confidently led by Anett György while the DNF of Báldi gave a 18 points lead to Morien among the Rookies. Apex Racing leads the team championship with a two points advantage over George Racing Team. Detailed standings HERE.

Results of the second Pannóniaring race:

There is no rest for the Hankook RCM Cup field, the fifth round of the series is held between 22^nd and 23^rd August on the Slovakiaring.

RCMCup - Lantos András