An ignition circuit for igniting a gas discharge lamp generates a high voltage gas breakdown pulse by building up a current through a primary winding of a transformer. After a predetermined period and thus when a predetermined current flows through the primary winding, a capacitance is switched in series with said primary winding, thereby generating said high voltage gas breakdown pulse in a secondary winding of said transformer. After generating the high voltage pulse, the capacitance is short-circuited in order to preserve energy in the primary winding. The preserved energy is employed to build up energy again for a next high voltage pulse in a short time. At a high repetition rate and high voltage of the generated pulses, the ignition circuit according to the present invention is also suitable for driving the gas discharge lamp during a take-over period following the gas breakdown of the lamp for heating the lamp electrodes.