A control circuit (1) for driving a gas discharge lamp, in particular a fluorescent lamp (FL), having a controllable converter (2) for converting a DC voltage to an AC voltage and having two feed lines (3, 4), which are connected on the AC-voltage side to the converter (2), and between which the gas discharge lamp can be connected, an inductor (L1), a first capacitance (C1) and a first controllable switching element (T1) being connected in series in the feed lines (3, 4). The feed lines (3, 4) are connected to one another via a second switching element (T2). A control unit (ST2) controls the switching elements (T1, T2, T3) in synchronism with the AC voltage of the converter (2) and is designed such that the second switching element (T2) is opened after a closed phase for the purpose of starting the gas discharge lamp at such a point in time that the AC voltage at the inductor (L1), which is set in the resonant circuit including the inductor (L1) and the parasitic capacitance (C4) of the second switching element (T2), and the AC voltage of the converter (2), approximately in-phase in terms of their extrema, are added to give a starting voltage. Furthermore, provided is a corresponding method for driving the gas discharge lamp.