Photo: Balaton Park
The new Balaton Park circuit in Hungary has opened, with the ACCR Formula 4 championship set to be in the paddock for the first race event held there in October.
The Central Europe-based ACCR F4 announced its 2023 calendar last November, but then lost its season opener at Germany’s Oschersleben track early this year when the FIA Sporting Code was updated to prohibit its zonal championships racing outside their region.
In April the series organisers added Balaton Park to the schedule as a replacement, but its slot as the season finale on October 6-8 was subject to the track recieiving the appropiate homologation upon completion after four years of being built.
While built to FIA Grade 1 standards, making it eligible to host Formula 1, Balaton Park has instead applied for Grade 2 certification for its 16-turn, 2.56-mile layout. Its location in the west of Hungary has increased its appeal to series based on the other side of the nation’s borders, with Austria and Croatia both 94 miles away from the track.
The circuit president is former International Formula 3000 racer and one-time F1 practice entrant Chanoch Nissany, whose son Roy races in Formula 2.
Balaton Park will not use any tyre barriers, with the circuit lined entirely by barriers from Tecpro, a company that currently sponsors the younger Nissany’s racing career.
In charge of international motorsport relations at the new track is Gianpolo Matteucci, who has been guiding the careers of racing drivers since 1990 through his own Matteucci Management firm.
Nissany, FIA Formula 3 racer Leonardo Fornaroli, Eurocup-3 race-winner Francesco Braschi and ACI Supercorso Federale winner Niko Lacorte are among the drivers he currently looks after in junior single-seaters, while previous clients include F2 race-winner Luca Ghiotto and Francesco Pizzi.
ACCR F4’s second round of the season takes place this weekend at the Red Bull Ring, and as expected – and previously reported by Formula Scout – the Sape Motorsport team has joined the grid with Czech karter Miroslav Mikes now he has turned 15, Jenzer has added Danish F4 racer Mathias Bjerre Jakobsen to its line-up and PHM Racing has entered with two of its drivers from Italian F4: Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi and James Egozi.