Flashback: Michelisz in the Q2 for the 1st time

2010. július 13. 14:50 | még nem szólt hozzá senki.  szerző: Viktor Adorján

Brands Hatch and the Race of UK have often market the "firsts" for many WTCC drivers. This was the circuit where Yvan Muller won his 1st race for SEAT, Alain Menu claimed the first win for Chevrolet and Norbert Michelisz advanced into the Q2 for the first time ever.

The world has changed a lot over the course of a year especially for Norbert Michelisz who will be driving this weekend in Brands Hatch, on a circuit which saw him getting into the second part of the qualification for the first time in his career.

We only need to add that Michelisz did this using a privateer, petrol-powered SEAT Leon to see how major achievement was this especially since he was racing in the SEAT Leon EuroCup as well to keep up his championship campaign.

Michelisz got his second chance to be a guest driver in the factory supplied but privateer SEAT Leon for winning the Portuguese round of the SEAT Leon EuroCup. Before Brands Hatch the young talent was invited for a test organized by SEAT Sport to get a bit more familiar with the car as previously he only drove the WTCC Leon once in Japan.

Everything was in place for Brands Hatch and the 2009 race weekend didn't miss anything in terms of excitement even through it didn't bring a huge success either. Norbert Michelisz arrived to the track as a serious title contender in the SEAT Leon EuroCup which meant that he took part in the races of the single-brand championship as well and actually won Race 1 after a collision with Michal Matejovsky.

It was Michelisz who took out one of his opponents in Lap 1 after he was knocked out into the gravel in Turn 1 back in 2008. It was a costly accident as Michelisz was starting from pole position but there was no time to care about it especially after the Hungarian driver showed a stunning performance and brought his car into the 2nd part of the qualification.

Numerous highly respected drivers were outqualified by the Hungarian youngster including 2008 world champion Yvan Muller, team mate Tom Coronel or Alessandro Zanardi. Michelisz was clearly the surprise of the day despite not having a fresh set of tyres for Q2 which meant that he took 10th on the grid but started from 9th following a penalty.

This change proved to be crucial as Michelisz was moved to the inside of Turn 1 which is generally the better side to start in Brands Hatch but not if a collision happens just ahead of a driver which he can't avoid. This is exactly what happened to Michelisz as he was a victim of a crash that also see the retirement of Yvan Muller then driving a factory supported SEAT Leon TDI.

Race 1 was over for Michelisz after just a few meters so the focus had to be turned to Race 2 which was disrupted by a Safety Car period which caused misunderstanding between Franz Engstler and Norbert Michelisz and the Hungarian driver crashed into his opponent's car and had to return to the pits for repairs.

But then it was not all over as the mechanics of SUNRED Engineering fixed Michelisz's car and on the clear track the Hungarian driver posted the fastest lap of the race by an independent driver. He showed that the pace was there to succeed in the WTCC and he only waited for a possibility to get more experience in the highest level of touring car racing. As we can now see, he has got it.

Photo by SEAT Sport

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