Abstract: The current through the primary winding of an ignition coil of an ignition system for a motor vehicle, and being largely independent of engine speed, supply voltage and internal resistance of the ignition coil, is controlled in a circuit in which a capacitor is charged only during the open time of a breaker contact and is discharged during the closed time of the contact, whereby the relationship of the charging current to the discharging current is equal to the relationship of open time to closed time of the contact. The current is switched on through the primary winding of the ignition coil as soon as the capacitor voltage falls below a threshold value and the current through the ignition coil is limited to an optimum value. The flow of current through the ignition coil is interrupted when the breaker contact is open and the aforementioned threshold voltage has not been reached at the same time.