2011. November 7. 08:57  author: Viktor Adorján

 The failure on the rear brakes and an unavoidable accident prevented Norbert Michelisz to score overall championship points in the maiden Chinese round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship. Michelisz was keeping a strong 4th place ahead the technical problem. On Race 2, he was crashed on Lap 1.

Norbert Michelisz managed to keep the fourth place he secured on Saturday’s qualification session up until the two-thirds of the season but an increasing problem with the rear brakes forced him to make way initially to Yvan Muller and later to fellow racing drivers.

Over the closing stage of the 25 lap long race, the Hungarian driver was left with virtually no braking and finished down to 11th in the order. Despite not scoring any points in the overall classification, Michelisz collected valuable points in the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy but he couldn’t stop Kristian Poulsen to increase his lead in the classification.

Things turned from bad to worse on Race 2 as its end came early for Norbert who was spun by Tiago Monteiro and crashed by Javier Villa over the opening lap on the Shanghai Tianma Circuit. Michelisz managed to bring his car back to his mechanics but because of the depth of the damages, it was not possible to repair the car in time which forced Michelisz to give up on scoring points this year in China.

“The only positive conclusion that we can draw on this weekend is that we haven’t had such a good pace on qualifying since Brno,” Michelisz said. “The other good news is that my mathematical chance is still remaining to take the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy in Macau.”

“Although it is only mathematical, Macau is typically the place where anything can happen. As things look right now, I don’t need to think about my approach for Macau because I have no choice but to take risks. I’m looking forward to a very exciting weekend.”

The 2011 season comes to its end in Macau, in two weeks’ time.