Michelisz prepares for Spanish challenge
2010. április 17. 02:44 | még nem szólt hozzá senki. szerző: Viktor Adorján
After more than a month since the opening round of the 2010 FIA World Touring Car Championship, Zengő Dension Team’s Norbert Michelisz prepares for his second race weekend this time in Valencia, on the season opener of the Spanish SEAT Leon Supercopa.
Three years can be considered as an important chapter in a career of a racing driver, especially when those three years are so essential for the progress of his elevation. In Norbert Michelisz’s case, this period was the time when he was actively driving a SEAT Leon Supercopa car in various single-brand championships and claimed the 2009 SEAT Leon EuroCup championship title.
At the beginning of the 2010 season, it looked like this chapter came to an end for Michelisz, when his Zengő Dension Team announced that they’re going to support the young talent in the FIA World Touring Car Championship. Michelisz scored the first ever Hungarian points in the WTCC in Brazil, but before the next round of the world championship, he will return for his pedigree and will take part in the season-opener of the Spanish SEAT Leon Supercopa in Valencia. The official press release issued by SEAT Sport labeled Norbert Michelisz’s participation as “significant”. He joins his team mates at Zengő Dension Team, namely György Kontra and Attila Solti.
Filling the gap
Such a move wasn’t in consideration initially as it was expected that the world championship campaign will keep Norbert a busy person. In fact it is still believed but the cancellation of the 2nd round of the WTCC season in Mexico left the Zengő Dension Team with a big gap between the opening weekend in Brazil and the upcoming race in Marrakech on the first weekend of May. Under these circumstances, the opportunity that the Spanish SEAT Leon Supercopa can offer this weekend might be useful for the future.
“Unfortunately it is not possible to test with the [WTCC] car”, said Norbert Michelisz. He added: “On previously unknown circuits this is a double disadvantage and it is important to keep up the rhythm for a driver and refresh the knowledge about the circuit before the WTCC race in September.”
The Hungarian talent and his team have a special attitude for the weekend: Michelisz is aiming to emulate the SEAT Leon TDI WTCC car as much as possible and ready to sacrifice the ultimate pace for the sake of the experience.
Michelisz explained: “We will try to setup the car to make it behaving similarly to the WTCC Leon. It won’t have to be the fastest car, but I hope that it will bring out my memories about the WTCC car while I’m driving it.”
He put emphasis on the fact that he is not necessarily chasing the best possible result over the weekend, the focus is on to keep himself sharp for the upcoming WTCC race in Marrakech and to continue gaining racing experience, which he admitted is still valuable.
“I will try to take as little risk as possible, a lot less than any other occasions”, Michelisz said. “It is absolutely positive and makes very good to a driver if he or she can sit in the car and race in a field. It is a great help.”
Spanish tradition
The Spanish SEAT Leon Supercopa is starting its 9th season in a row; this year new technical partners, Castrol and Yokohama are joining the series, and they’re also suppliers in the WTCC. While the new tyres will certainly make a notable difference for the drivers compared to their previous experiences, the environment is expected to be well known, as the Cheste Circuit in Valencia is a regularly used venue.
This will be the fourth occasion when Norbert Michelisz will hit the track in Valencia. He has already completed seven races on the Cheste Circuit and has been pretty successful. Michelisz started his victorious SEAT Leon EuroCup campaign last year with a hat-trick as he claimed pole position, fastest lap and victory on the season-opener. This weekend he’ll have another three races before he returns with the WTCC next September.
The days to follow will be the 17th and the 18th of April; on Saturday two short-distance races will be completed by the drivers as they’ll do only 7 laps each race to decide who is the fastest, and on Sunday they’ll be back for the usual 14 laps distance. The field is expected to include numerous drivers from the past year’s SEAT Leon EuroCup seasons, including 2008 champion Oscar Nogués, Andrea Larini who was Michelisz’s teammate in 2009, former WTCC driver Miguel Freitas, Eoin Murray, 2009 SEAT Leon Supercopa champion Marc Carol, Davide Roda or Massimiliano Pedalá.
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