The Hungaroring staged just four DTM race meetings to date.
In 1988 the series made its debut at the Hungarian racetrack located not far from Budapest. In 2014, DTM returned to the Hungarian race venue for its second appearance and in 2016, after a one year break, it was back for its third. While Formula One has been racing at the circuit year by year for decades, this year's DTM race meeting will be the only fifth held in the 'flat plate'. A name the circuit was given because of its topography. As the circuit was built in a valley, the spectators on the higher-placed grandstands can see 80 percent of the racetrack - perfect conditions for the fans.
The Hungaroring is a history-charged racetrack. When the circuit located not far from Hungary's capital, Budapest, was finalised it staged the first Hungarian Formula One GP. Formula One was the first guest. At the same time, it was the very first Formula One race held during the Cold War in a communist country. Nelson Piquet won the debut race in a Williams-Honda and repeated this triumph in the following year. And two years after Formula One's debut appearance at the Hungaroring, DTM also made its first stop at the Hungaroring.
One who felt comfortable in Hungary right away was Jonny Cecotto. In his Mercedes 190E he dominated both rounds of the 1988 race weekend - in those days, the DTM drivers still had to contest two races on one day. In the first race he was joined on the podium by his fellow Mercedes driver Kurt Thiim and Klaus Niedzwiedz in a Ford Sierra Cosworth. In the second race, this
pairing again proved to be the toughest rivals of Cecotto, with Niedzwiedz finishing second and Thiim third, this time.
I took DTM 26 long years to return to Hungary. The Mercedes dominance witnessed in 1988 was history. In 2014, the Stuttgarters had no chance at all while BMW's Marco Wittmann added important points to his tally on the way to winning the title. Wittmann won with Miguel Molina (Audi) finishing second and his fellow BMW driver Bruno Spengler completing the podium. With this success in the third race meeting of the season, Wittmann took the championship lead to defend it until the season was over.
After a one-year break DTM returned to the 'Paris of the East'. This time, the race meeting was dominated by Audi. Mattias Ekström established a new lap record with a 1:36.538-minute lap and won one of the races. Fellow Audi driver Edoardo Mortara secured both pole positions and won the other race. And in the following year, Audi's René Rast clinched both pole positions and won the Sunday race while Mercedes-AMG driver Paul Di Resta won on Saturday.