Flashback: Michelisz breaks into the WTCC

2010. október 26. 11:38 | még nem szólt hozzá senki.  szerző: Viktor Adorján

Race of Japan proved to be a milestone in the history of the Hungarian circuit racing; for the first time in the modern era of the FIA WTCC, a Hungarian driver lined up for the start. What was a dream for Norbert Michelisz at the beginning of 2008 finally came to reality in October.

Back in 2006 there were only a few people in Hungary who thought there is something special in the three drivers who started to dominate the Renault Clio Cup and the Suzuki Swift Cup. The latter was won by a 20 years old rookie driver called Norbert Michelisz.

It was only the start for the young hot shot as Michelisz continued to move higher and higher in the order thanks to the support of Zengő Motorsport up until the beginning of the 2008 season that proved to be a real breakthrough for both the driver and the team.

2008 saw the team stepping out to the international scene and Michelisz claiming four consecutive pole positions in the SEAT Leon EuroCup but various technical and racing issues forced him to give up on taking the WTCC prize drive offered by SEAT Sport. Finally a change came in Monza with a well-deserved victory that meant that Michelisz earned access for the world championship ride.

The possibility to drive a SEAT backed, petrol powered SEAT Leon in the WTCC was a real booty for every driver in the field but only six of them was given the chance to race it in 2008. At the beginning of the season nobody, not even the Hungarian duo formed by 2009 SEAT Leon EuroCup champion Norbert Michelisz and 2010 SEAT Leon EuroCup champion Gábor Wéber was aware that the have got real chance to get involved in the World Touring Car Championship.

But for the half-time of the season it became obvious that Zengő Motorsport is on the pace but several retirements stopped Michelisz to take the guest car. He had to wait until Monza where the ice was finally broken and he made his fortune by winning the weekend and was allowed to start to prepare for his maiden outing in the FIA WTCC in Japan.

Not a reward but an opportunity

For Norbert Michelisz the focus was on not to consider the 2008 Race of Japan as a reward for his success but to exploit the potential of the opportunity that came into his career. The Hungarian driver was given a petrol powered SEAT Leon from the 2006 model year that was a good car for taking the first steps in the World Championship but it couldn’t be considered a competitive vehicle.

Therefore the aim was to collect as much mileage as possible and to try to be a force among the independent drivers. The difficulty was that for the first time of his real racing career, Michelisz didn’t have a clear reference point as Tom Coronel, then his team mate was driving a more powerful petrol Leon and the factory-run TDIs were obviously in a different league.

90 minutes were available for Michelisz to get to know the car and the Japanese circuit before the qualification session, the first battle that really mattered. The first test session on Friday was sacrificed to start the learning process on used tyres and the combination of the lack of experience and the used rubber resulted a 3 minutes gap compared to pace setter Augusto Farfus.

The more important part of the programme got underway on Saturday morning when Michelisz drove his car with fresh tyres and posted the 18^th fastest laptime and made up 0.9 seconds to Augusto Farfus who was still fastest in Japan. The big news was that Michelisz was 0.077 seconds faster than team mate Tom Coronel which was a small but sweet achievement on the Hungarian driver’s maiden outing.

Of course Coronel retook the commanding position in the team during the next practice by finishing 2^nd on the timesheets but he was closely followed by Michelisz who finished 4^th thanks to the fact that they were still working on the qualifying setups while the majority of the field moved their focus for the race adjustments.

Expected performance on qualifying

Despite the spectacular showings on the practices, the insiders were aware of what the package driven by Michelisz was capable of. Therefore nobody was really surprised and certainly not disappointed by the Hungarian driver’s 20^th place on the qualifying especially since it was a satisfying performance considering that he was only 0.275 seconds slower than Tom Coronel who set the 17^th fastest time. Two factory drivers, Alessandro Zanardi and Nicola Larini took their places between the SUNRED drivers.

Before Race 1 an unexpected surprise came to Okayama in the form of the rain. The 15 minutes warm up session was held on a wet circuit which was a new experience for Michelisz but it was useful regarding the forthcoming state of things.

Only two laps, and it’s over

Race 1 didn’t turn out the way it was expected as Norbert Michelisz was forced to retire his car at the end of Lap 2. Rain hit the circuit in time of the first battle in Japan but Michelisz managed to survive the start despite the field getting broken into two sections.

The second part of the field remained very tight which meant that any potential accident resulted a dangerous situation as the rainspray, the slippery surface and the close battle of cars created a high likelihood of a crash.

Unfortunately this theory came into reality on Lap 2 when Michelisz was made spinning by Manabu Orido and other competitors crashed into the Hungarian driver’s car. The damage was as severe as it was impossible to continue the race but Michelisz was lucky to be able to bring his car back to the mechanics that started to repair it for Race 2.

Regarding the overall picture, Race 1 was a big success for SEAT Sport as the team claimed their first world championship title and Tom Coronel’s 8^th place meant that he started Race 2 from pole position.

A Hungarian driver completes a WTCC race

For Race 2 the main objective was to cover the distance and to make this happen the team opted to stick with wet tyres. This decision might not have been the fastest but it allowed Michelisz to take the sensational 16^th place after he started from 28^th on the grid.

The headlines were dominated by Tom Coronel who managed to win the race but for the Hungarian fans and the people supporting Michelisz’s career, this result was a real relief as being in the top 20 was a sign of potential for the future. People couldn’t make sure before the season and not even before the weekend that a Hungarian driver can be competitive in the WTCC but Michelisz’s performance contained a promise for the future.

It was like a ride in the amusement park: right at the moment Michelisz got out of the car, work started to get back as soon as possible.

Photos by SEAT Sport

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