Norbert Michelisz takes the lead in the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy

2011. július 10. 23:05  szerző: Viktor Adorján

The city of Porto hosted the 2011 WTCC Race of Portugal where Norbert Michelisz took over the lead of the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy by his back to back 1st places in the classification. The Hungarian driver posted an 8th and a 4th place in the overall classification that delighted the team following the initial problems.

A real challenge was waiting for Zengő Dension Team in Portugal as the Hungarian squad arrived to the venue that marked the halfway point of the 2011 season. Following two home races, Norbert Michelisz prepared for one of the two street races of the year on the slightly redesigned Circuito da Boavista.

Norbert had been successful in Portugal, having won races in Porto, Portimao and Braga as well in lower series’ but the WTCC is a lot more harder task as the previous one and a half season proved. However, the team had a great belief in their chances in the unusual environment.

Initially, the overall picture didn’t look good at all as the engineers and Norbert struggled to find the optimal setup on the street circuit. Since the testing possibilities are strictly limited and the nature of the circuit would require additional information on the car, the team couldn’t adjust the car the way they would have liked.

Their aims were further hindered as Norbert crashed the back of his BMW 320 TC in Free Practice 2 following the failure of the rear-left brakes on his car. He later labeled the incident as a “huge luck” since the car could’ve been hurt a lot more than it was eventually.

The difficulties led to a less than optimal 4th row start on both races for Norbert as he only could take 8th and 7th on the grids. He stated that he would try to limit the damage that the results will cause in his campaign as it was looking like overtaking is almost impossible on the tight street circuit.

On Race 1 Norbert brought the car home with a safe driving on 8th position as simply there was no chance for him to improve his position in the train of cars without taking a serious risk that would put his car in danger.

Especially since Race 2 brought a great success for Norbert as he managed to elevate himself as high as 4th in the overall classification. Just like in Macau last year, he made a sensational start from 7th on the grid by passing the stalled car of Robert Dahlgren and overtaking To Coronel and Franz Engstler immediately.

From that moment he only had to wait and see what is happening ahead of him in the spectacular battle among the Chevrolets and Stefano D’Aste’s BMW 320 TC as long as the Italian driver was among the frontrunners. Eventually, D’Aste was called in to serve a drive through penalty which made Michelisz to take 4th and end up as the best Independent driver again.

With back to back first places in the classification of the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy, Michelisz took over the lead of the standing despite missing out on Round 1 of the championship.