2010. August 3. 23:56 | no comments yet.  author: Viktor Adorján

Serious consequences followed the crash occurred on Lap 4 of Race 1 of the Czech Republic on Sunday in Brno involving Norbert Michelisz, Colin Turkington and Yvan Muller. Michelisz was hit by a €1000 fine and a severe 10 place grid penalty in Germany. The team is left without answers.  

Everything was set for a great celebration on Sunday as Norbert Michelisz started from 6th on the grid following his one of the best qualifying performance to date on Saturday. Many Hungarian fans decided to come to Brno to see the 25 years old rookie racing among the best touring car drivers of the world but the weekend turned out to be a big disappointment in terms of the results for various reasons.

It was looking like Race 1 will be a continuation of what we experienced on qualifying as Norbert Michelisz kept his 6th place following the start and was in contention with the drivers around him including 2008 world champion Yvan Muller who attacked Michelisz from behind. They created a very spectacular and fair battle that was disrupted by a Safety Car session where the things went completely wrong for Zengő-Dension Team.

What happened before the start/finish line

At the end of Lap 1 Safety Car was deployed because several cars had to be removed from the gravel trap following a crash shortly after the start. WSR's Colin Turkington was then 3rd, Alain Menu 4th, Augusto Farfus 5th and Norbert Michelisz 6th.

Safety Car left the track at the end of Lap 3 and drivers started to accelerate to begin Lap 4. TV footages (including Augusto Farfus' onboard camera) clearly reveal that 3rd placed Colin Turkington visibly drives out of the way of Alain Menu and Augusto Farfus coming behind him and lets the two drivers to get past by him.

Turkington lost speed as a result of this and when he arrived to the ultimate turn into the start/finish straight Norbert Michelisz was much more faster than the British driver and accelerated better out for the last turn than Turkington.

Under normal circumstances it is forbidden to overtake before the start/finish line and Michelisz was clearly ahead his opponent by the point he reached the line which would indicate that Michelisz did something that is not allowed by the rules but the moves made by Turkington were clear signs of an unconventional racing situation.

Crash in Turn 1

A few seconds later Michelisz and Turkington arrived into Turn 1. The nose of the BMW driven by the British driver was clearly behind Michelisz's SEAT but the Hungarian driver started to brake where he thought it is safe to do that before the corner but Turkington - and Frenchman Yvan Muller coming from behind them - was still pushing and his car got beside the Zengő-Dension Team car.

Michelisz got caught among the two cars as Turkington's car still moved forward as Michelisz needed to start to turn into the corner. The right side of the BMW hit the left of Michelisz's SEAT and the BMW effectively pushed the SEAT into Yvan Muller's Chevrolet which was in a wrong place at the wrong time.

The impact was heavy and immediately broke several parts in the suspension of Michelisz's SEAT which made the car undriveable and meant the end of the race for the young Hungarian driver. Yvan Muller was able to take back the control of his sliding Chevrolet and made it to the pits but later retired as well from Race 1.

Zengő-Dension Team's SEAT was carried back into the pits and the mechanics of the team restored it in time for Race 2 and Michelisz completed Race 2 with it. Following the races Norbert Michelisz and technical director Arnau Niubó were summoned by the Stewards and eventually the Hungarian driver was given a 10 place grid penalty for Germany and a €1000 fine.

To make a quick decision

"I just saw that Turkington slides to the outside and really slows down. After that Alain Menu and Augusto Farfus immediately passed him and I was in the position to attack by the last right turn. He went inside, I thought he probably goes into the pits but it was impossible to judge whether he has a problem with his car or not," explained Norbert Michelisz on Tuesday.

He added: "From the point he was passed immediately he can be considered as a slow driver. At that moment I didn't have any doubts on this being right or not. For me it is still not a question that this is not worth a penalty. It was obvious that I have to attack as I couldn't measure up how close are the others behind me and how much I get hindered."

Only 9 seconds were needed for the drivers to get to Turn 1 where the crash in question happened. Michelisz said when he realized that there will be a trouble it has already happened and he left without options to avoid it.

"It was very difficult to judge because the things happened so rapidly. Yvan Muller came from the outside and I only got that they close on me like the scissors. In the moment when the Chevy touched me my front left wheel broke out and I couldn't steer the car. It was really happening over a wink, it was looking similarly to what you've seen from the outside."

Where you don't want to be on the outside

The accident itself created a bitter feeling in Michelisz but the penalty imposed on him made him to go even deeper in the situation. When asked if he thought the accident was simply a racing incident he agreed immediately.

"Yes, exactly," he said. - "I think too that this might happen on any races. I don't want to criticize him but I sense an enormously big lack of experience as nobody wants to take Turn 1 [in Brno] on the outside. I don't know how he thought that he'll manage to overtake two cars from the green outside line or what was his specific plan. If he were driving for the 8th place at the end of a race I say OK, it must be tried but he was not in danger of dropping out of the top 8 so I think it was a blunt idea."

Michelisz said that he met Yvan Muller personally and other representatives of the Chevrolet team and he didn't saw any signs of him being accused with causing the accident. Nobody has questioned the unfortunate nature of the incident.

Not to be let or being the cause

Races were not over for Norbert Michelisz and his race engineer Arnau Niubó once the Hungarian driver got out of the car. Instead receiving the support of the fans attended the race to cheer for Michelisz, the duo had to pay a visit to the Race Stewards to report on the accident between him, Turkington and Muller. Now we all know what the verdict was.

"There was no justification," Michelisz said. - "We watched again the accident and with Arnau we pointed that Turkington was braking as late as if I stayed on the outside then I would have been embroiled like Yvan Muller so it was sure that there wasn't any way to go off well. We said everything for nothing, it was like talking to a brick wall."

"Their standpoint was that an accident happened, they too saw that there wasn't any deliberation in it and practically they almost agreed that it was a racing incident. We stated that I wasn't responsible for it, I just needed to take the corner somehow and from my perspective it was an unavoidable situation.

"Despite this they said that the leader of the championship is involved and the consequences are so serious. I felt that somebody must be penalized anyway and unfortunately it was me," concluded a clearly disillusioned driver.

As Zengő-Dension Team's race engineer Arnau Niubó "completely agreed" that the incident should be considered as a racing accident but had no options but to explain that the Stewards and the team representatives were on exactly the opposite opinion on what happened in Turn 1 which made it impossible to create a common understanding on the situation.

"We explained to the Stewards that under our point of view Turkington was carrying too much speed into the corner and when Norbert tried to turn, Turkington's car didn’t allow to do it. Under Stewards' point of view Norbert pushed Turkington on the back and, for this reason, Turkington wasn’t able to turn into the corner," Niubó revealed.

Penalty likely to ruin a whole weekend

At the moment Norbert feels that the 10 place grid penalty imposed on him is likely to trash the whole weekend in Germany as the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben offer only a few spots to overtake and Michelisz is expected to be in need to pass 8-10 cars to get into the top 8 for Race 2 that would revitalize his chances of getting a decent result in Germany.

"Enormous luck is needed," he stated. - "There is only one place in Oschersleben, at the end of the main straight where it is possible to overtake. Unless they make a mistake, the independent BMWs will be so strong, the likelihood of me being able to overtake them is small. I'll try to base on to get into the top 12-13 with taking a small risk. Getting into the top 8 would be only possible with a huge luck but based on the previous weekend I'm not expecting that I'll have a say there."

This is greatly disappointing as many Hungarian fans vowed to travel to Germany to support Michelisz which is something that the young driver is visibly looking forward to. Just like Michelisz and Niubó, team manager György Juni was also unimpressed by the outcome of the weekend and expressed his desire to get proper explanation for what has done to the young driver.

"This weekend a nice experience was taken away from our spectators present in person, a considerable financial loss raised up, Norbi fell back to positions in the overall classifications and we dropped out of the top 10. Swiss driver [Fredy] Barth jumped ahead of him in the rookie category, a fine of €1000 and a 10 place grid penalty in Deutschland'," Juni set it out.

The 2010 FIA WTCC season will continue on the 5th of September in Oschersleben, Germany.

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