Csaba Kesjár

9/2/1962 - 24/6/1988

Record updated 13-May-08

Had a F1 test drive with the now defunct Zakspeed Team. Had the potential to get into F1 but was killed in an F3 race at the Norisring .

The Hungaroring was quiet for many years because most of the serious Hungarian racing drivers or motorcycle riders preferred to compete in Western European events, the most notable was Csaba Kesjár, who in the 1980s was a rising star in the German Formula Three Championship.

Kesjár Csaba, as in Hungary the family name preceeds the given name,  started his carrier in karts, and became a multiple national champion. He was a member of a Hungarian racing dynasty, as his grandfather and father had both been racing drivers, his father winning numerous national championships.

After karting, Csaba graduated to 'Formula Eastern' class, which was a category for formula cars made with East European car parts. Csaba drove four years there, scoring one win. Kesjar's only victory came after a disqualification, when he launched a protest against the result of a Bulgarian race. As it turned out, the winning Soviet driver used a 1400cc engine instead a 1300cc, which the rules stipulated. Apparently this was common practice so it is hardly suprising that he had so little success at this time.

Following a Formula One test drive for the now defunct Zakspeed team at Hungaroring in 1987, Kesjár was widely tipped to be the first ever driver from behind the Iron Curtain to make it to the sport's top level, but he was tragically killed in a violent accident driving a Schubel Motorsport Dallara 388 Volkswagen at the Norisring circuit the following year.

He was practicing for the Norisring F3 race on Friday when his Dallara hit the barriers head on. His car went between two rows of the safety barriers and landed in the woods. The driver suffered serious head injuries and died on the spot.