Sunday’s AutoGP race at the Hungaroring did not go all too well for Zele Racing drivers Tamas Pal Kiss and Yoshitaka Kuroda
Starting from sixth, Kiss stormed to 3rd place, but like on the previous day, the Hungarian had massive graining, which forced him to stop early. Despite a good pitstop, he lost several positions and could only save P7 in the end.
“The start was good, but then my tyre grip went and the pit stop cost many spots, so there was not much more in it today”, the local hero analysed, who will remain second in the drivers’ championship, but lost ground on race winner and leader Kimiya Sato.
Zele Racing team mate Yoshitaka Kuroda showed a good performance, but was hit early by another car, which led to a slow puncture and a broken rim ruining his race.
“We were struggling with heavy graining on Tamas’ car throughout the race and could not go the pace of Euronova and Virtuosi. We underestimated the low grip levels of the track and were not in the position to fight for the podium. Yoshi was hit by one of the Eurotech cars on the first lap, when he was having shifting issues. This caused a crack in the front rim and a slow puncture as well as a bent trackrod. It’s a pity, because he was happy with the balance of his car and he could have finished in a decent position”, team boss Michael Zele was less than happy.
“However, overall it was a reasonable weekend with P2 on Saturday and we have scored valuable points. Unfortunately, Sato won again and pulled away a little, but he will miss 1-2 races due to other commitments, so we may catch up“, he added.
For the next race, AutoGP will travel to Italy, where the championship will continue at the Autodromo di Monza on May 31.
