Norbert Michelisz

2010. április 17. 02:07  szerző: Viktor Adorján

Zengő-Dension Team’s lead driver Norbert Michelisz was borned on the 8^th of August 1984 in Mohács, Hungary. He got poised by motorsport in his childhood but then the financial possibilities did not allow him to start a real racing career. As an alternative way, Norbert turned towards computer racing simulations and became a successful online racer in the international scene. As a result of his presence, he came to know Gabor Weber who was then Zengő Motorsport’s most successful driver in the real-life Hungarian Renault Clio Cup. Weber noticed the talent of the young Michelisz and recommended him for a test to team chairman Zoltán Zengő.

Michelisz showed a stunning performance on his debut in a real Renault Clio Cup car and impressed Zengő Motorsport’s leadership as much as they signed the young talent for the maiden 2006 Suzuki Swift Cup. The season brought a tough competition but Michelisz won 6 out of the 13 races including the two events on his debut and became the first ever champion of the Suzuki Swift Cup. At the end of the season he was awarded the ‘Talent of the Year’ trophy by the Hungarian Autosport Federation MNASZ.

A year later Michelisz faced a step forward when he moved up to the Renault Clio Cup but after some initial difficulties he scored a total 8 victories out of 15 races and defeated his in-house rival János Vida in the race for the 2007 Renault Clio Cup title. This year also saw Michelisz’s debut in the Hungarian SEAT Leon Super Cup, the young driver was given the chance to drive a car on the Hungaroring for learning purposes. This was the second occasion that the young racer could test the factory-built racecar after an endurance race in Brno back in 2006.

The 2008 season was a real breakthrough for both Michelisz and Zengő Motorsport. The Hungarian driver became a regular contender in the Hungarian SEAT Leon Super Cup and won the 2^nd race of the season and a few weeks later he was taken by Zengő Motorsport to the first ever race of the SEAT Leon EuroCup, the single-brand support series of the prestigious FIA WTCC. Michelisz was then relatively inexperienced with the SEAT that was the base of the championships but showed a very impressive maturing: he quickly became a title contender in the Hungarian championship alongside the 2007 champion Norbert Kiss and his veteran teammate Gabor Weber and finished eventually as runner-up.

Weber and Michelisz formed a great alliance for the EuroCup campaign as well, with Weber scoring the team’s first international victory in Pau, but Michelisz took the lead from the following race in Estoril and took four pole positions in a row. His performance shocked the field including the SEAT Sport’s engineers who were initially looking for breaches of the technical rules but after reading the car’s data logger, they became sure that Michelisz’s pace was a result of his talent and the efforts made by the team.

This led to the success on the season-finale in Monza, where Michelisz claimed his first ever victory in the SEAT Leon EuroCup and secured the chance to drive the factory-supported guest car in the Japanese round of the 2008 FIA World Touring Car Championship. The car was a SEAT Leon FSI ran by SUNRED Engineering, a completely unknown model for the first and to date only Hungarian driver in the modern era of the WTCC but this didn’t stop him to outpace his much more experienced teammate Tom Coronel on the Saturday free practice. Michelisz was a victim of a crash on the first race in Okayama after getting the 20^th place on the starting grid but on the 2^nd race he showed a great performance and finished 16^th after starting from the 28^th place. He said later that the top priority was to demonstrate his abilities to SEAT Sport’s experts.

At the beginning of the 2009 season Zengő Motorsport and Dension Ltd., one of the world’s leading manufacturers of connected car entertainment systems joined their forces, this enabled Michelisz to race in six different championships with four different SEAT racecars a year. The aim was to get as much mileage and experience as possible and to win the 2009 SEAT Leon EuroCup. The mission was completed, Michelisz started as a clear favourite for the title after he won the opening round of the EuroCup in Valencia and four more races during the season. In Porto he was awarded with the possibility to drive the petrol-powered SEAT Leon FSI again in the WTCC and as a result of his title, he became the first ever privateer driver to get his hands on SEATs actual world champion technology, the Leon TDI on the European Touring Car Cup in Braga.

The second WTCC outing was a bit more successful than the first one. Michelisz impressed the audience by getting into the top 10 in the qualifying with his less than competitive car. He was faster than the 2008 world champion Yvan Muller and finished ahead of his teammate Tom Coronel, but the Hungarian driver’s ambitions suffered a blow again, as he was a part of a crash shortly after the start of the first race and he was forced to retire. Luck was not on his side on the second race either as he had a collision with Franz Engstler. As a result of this, the trailing arm on Michelisz’s car was broken so he had to visit his pitcrew to fix the damage. Later he was sent back by his team to prove his pace and the result was the fastest race laptime among the Independent drivers which meant that Michelisz was awarded his first ever world championship point.

The following months after his second WTCC chance were spent for the successful EuroCup campaign which led Michelisz to be granted an entry for the FIA European Touring Car Cup with the championship-winning SEAT Leon TDI racecar. Norbert Michelisz was the first privateer driver to get his hands on the latest technology with a factory-delegated race engineer, Arnau Niubó. Their pair won the first race of the weekend in Braga from pole position and ended up third overall.

After Michelisz’s impressive campaign during the 2009 season it was clear that the young Hungarian driver is right to knock on the door of the FIA WTCC, the only question was whether he can have the chance to step up to the highest level.

As a result of SEAT’s decision to re-orientate its motorsport activity, privateer teams got the possibility to run the world champion SEAT Leon TDIs and with the collaboration of Zengő Motorsport and Dension Ltd. the new Zengő Dension Team was formed that will enter Norbert Michelisz to the 2010 FIA World Touring Car Championship.