Michelisz scores points in Brands Hatch

2010. július 18. 14:36 | még nem szólt hozzá senki.  szerző: Viktor Adorján

Norbert Michelisz finished Race 1 of UK in Brands Hatch as the best rookie driver and scored points by his 9th place following an unfortunate racing incident with the two BMWs coming from behind him. Yvan Muller claimed a start to finish victory ahead Rob Huff and Colin Turkington.

Zengő-Dension Team's Norbert Michelisz has completed one of the toughest races so far this season in Brands Hatch and scored a point by finishing 10th and became the best rookie driver of the field again.

Michelisz started Race 1 from 8th on the grid after finishing 9th on qualifying and made profit out of the penalty imposed on Andy Priaulx for changing engine before its mandatory lifetime ended. This is naturally an advantage but not necessarily in Brands Hatch as 8th is on the outside of Turn 1 and Turn 2 and it was a concern whether it is possible to get through the initial meters of the race.

Start of Race 1 was surprisingly clean as it has been the case for all races so far this weekend. Norbert Michelisz admitted that he made contact with a few cars including Tom Coronel but nothing serious happened and he successfully kept his 8th place by attacking Tiago Monteiro but failing to pass him.

The order remained basically unchanged but a few important movements took place quickly after the start which didn't affect the lead held by Yvan Muller. His team mate Robert Huff and Alain Menu followed him carefully with the view for the interests of the team.

Lap 1 saw Norbert Michelisz keeping 8th being 2.828 seconds behind leader Yvan Muller and over the course of the following laps Michelisz successfully remained on a similar pace to the frontrunners getting only 0.005 seconds on lap 2.

Initially it was looking like the race will be all about a train of cars but Lap 4 brought an important change as Fredy Barth was passed by Augusto Farfus who took 9th and went after Norbert Michelisz on 8th.

Michelisz said that initially he was unconcerned by Farfus as he had a 2 seconds advantage ahead of him but the Hungarian driver quickly realized that their expectations regarding the pace of the BMWs were perfect as Farfus closed in on him very soon after he got past Barth.

This was the period when BMW driver Colin Turkington passed Gabriele Tarquini for 4th which meant that this lap was a slight defeat for SEAT. Especially since Farfus needed less than 2 laps to catch Michelisz and the Brazilian driver drove him out of the circuit which costed Michelisz two places and a 2 seconds gap behind Andy Priaulx.

10th is the last of the point scoring positions but 8th would have been needed for the pole position for Race 2. It became apparent that unless a racing incident happens, Michelisz would not have the pace to gain back the lost two positions.

One more unexpected chance appeared on Lap 9 when Carlos "Cacá" Bueno's Chevrolet Cruze got covered by flames due a serious oil leak that made Safety Car to enter the circuit and spend two laps ahead of the field.

Restart kept a potential chance for Michelisz as Tom Coronel was expected to be attacked by Augusto Farfus like Tiago Monteiro vs Andy Priaulx but both duos made sure that their battle remain clean. Instead this Robert Dahlgren attacked Michelisz for 10th but the Hungarian driver conserved his position by driving out his opponent onto the grass.

On lap last but one Priaulx got past Monteiro offering a small chance for Michelisz to overtake as well but eventually the Hungarian driver had to settle down for 10th. Colin Turkington also passed Alain Menu for 3rd which made the Swiss driver to slow down in a bid to try to take 8th and a pole for Race 2. Menu was given a 30 seconds penalty for this tactics which meant that Michelisz was awarded 9th following the race. 

Checkered flag was reached by Yvan Muller on P1 as the French driver took a start to finish victory including a lucky Safety Car period that helped him to cool down his tyres. Robert Huff and Colin Turkington made onto the podium as well with Gabriele Tarquini, Tom Coronel, Augusto Farfus, Andy Priaulx and Tiago Monteiro finishing ahead Norbert Michelisz.

Despite this the Hungarian driver still finished as the best rookie driver and scored two points. He said on the post race press conference that he couldn't match the pace of the BMWs which meant this result is the maximum he could reach today. Point scoring is the most realistic outlook for Race 2.

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