Norbert Michelisz wins the 2010 FIA WTCC’s Rookie Challenge and took overall victory

2010. november 21. 08:35 | még nem szólt hozzá senki.  szerző: Viktor Adorján

Zengő-Dension Team’s and Hungary’s first ever Hungarian FIA WTCC driver Norbert Michelisz won the Rookie Challenge of the 2010 FIA WTCC season by finishing nine times as the best rookie driver of the field. The Hungarian driver also claimed an overall victory on Race 2 of Macau.

Norbert Michelisz won the Rookie Challenge of the 2010 FIA World Touring Car Championship today in Macau by finishing fifth on Race 1 and winning the overall classification on Race 2. He therefore scored 167 points in the Rookie Challenge and 104 in the overall classification over the course of the season.

Rookie Challenge was established at the first race of the season in Brazil following the threat by independent competitors who prospected their withdrawal from the championship should the SEAT Leon TDI cars got allowed to take part in the Independent’s Trophy.

Despite Zengő-Dension Team not being a factory-run operation, the team was out of the Independent’s Trophy but WTCC organizers set up Rookie Challenge where fellow SEAT driver newcomers Fredy Barth and Michel Nykjaer emerged as the main competitors for Michelisz.

Tight battle at the beginning

The first two rounds of the season brought three second places in the Rookie Challenge for Norbert Michelisz who had only a limited amount of past experience with the SEAT Leon TDI that features a unique characteristics when it comes to deal with the handling of the car.

Michelisz was given a chance to complete a race weekend with a TDI car in Braga back in 2009 but couldn’t test before the season and this remained to be a trend for the entire campaign; the Hungarian driver only sat in the car over the official sessions of the championship while his opponents have participated on private tests and entered the FIA ETC Cup with their machinery to gain more experience.

This has not been available for the Hungarian rookie who therefore became an underdog-like character in the field as he still chased the overall frontrunners closely despite the limited resources he and his team needed to deal with.

Impressive series in Europe

A turning point came in Europe where Michelisz started to get a bit more comfortable in the SEAT Leon TDI and on Race 2 of Italy he took the first victory in the Rookie Challenge and stepped onto the FIA WTCC podium for the first time in his career.

It was only the beginning of a stunning series of victories in the Rookie Challenge that saw Norbert Michelisz taking six wins over seven races of the European leg including back to back successes in Zolder and Brands Hatch.

The only link missing from the chain was Race 2 in Portugal where Norbert Michelisz started from 2nd on the grid and was leading the overall classification until an engine failure forced him to retire from the overall first place. It was a real drama and a big let-down for the entire team.

Racing with the big boys

Two disappointing races followed the successful period as Norbert Michelisz was involved in a crash with Colin Turkington and Yvan Muller in Brno when the Hungarian rookie launched an attack for the 5th place. Michelisz and Muller retired from the race and Zengő-Dension Team’s driver was hit by a fine and a severe 10 place grid penalty for Oschersleben.

Race 2 was also compromised by the after-effects of the accident in Brno and the double dose of bad luck allowed Barth and Nykjaer to finish ahead Michelisz in the Czech Republic. A month later Zengő-Dension Team’s driver had to fight his way back from the 15th place but managed to take 8th position by the end of Race 1 therefore started Race 2 from the overall pole position for the first time of his WTCC career.

Michelisz kept going 2nd until Tiago Monteiro drove into him that made the Hungarian driver to fall back in the order only to accept further collisions with Robert Huff and Gabriele Tarquini. The situation was turned out in favour of Michel Nykjaer who gained 4 points over Michelisz. Another chance for a possible overall podium was lost in Germany.

Probably the only race where Norbert Michelisz was not up to the pace of the Rookie Challenge competitors was Race of Spain at the end of August where a mechanical failure took him out of Qualification 2 for the first and so far only time in his WTCC career but the races also brought suffering for the Hungarian driver as he couldn’t break out of the midfield over two race distances.

The target is the top

Six races were spent to get back to the winning ways in the Rookie Challenge but the lack of victories in the trophy has never really been a concern for Norbert Michelisz as Zengő-Dension Team’s driver and technical director Arnau Niubó have always targeted the frontrunners of the overall classification including the way more experienced, former works SEAT drivers.

By the middle of the season the Hungarian driver got closely behind Gabriele Tarquini and co and the numerous collisions and smaller or larger racing incidents indicated that Michelisz is right to focus on the overall classification rather than backing off and aim only for being ahead of the other rookies.

This tactic often caused a loss of points in the Rookie Challenge but the efforts and the hard work Michelisz and the team have put in started to pay in their way in Okayama where Michelisz and Niubó made a clear step forward performance-wise which resulted an overall third place following the exclusion of the works BMWs. This also meant a victory in the Rookie Challenge that was followed by a second place in the category on the chaotic and rain hit Race 2 in Okayama.

It’s a shame but it has to end for 2010

Norbert Michelisz travelled to Macau with enthusiasm but lamented that the last race of the season is organized on a street circuit which he felt previously that possibly not appropriate to show his ultimate speed. His concerns didn’t get confirmed as he did a sensational laptime on Qualification 2 that put him to the second place on the grid but a five place grid penalty made him to start from 7th on the grid.

As Fredy Barth, the closest competitor for the Hungarian driver was 17 points down to him before the final round of the championship, the only thing that mattered that the Swiss racer not to take a first and a second place and Michel Nykjaer not to take back to back victories in case something goes wrong for Michelisz.

Eventually, it turned out to be the opposite: both Barth and Nykjaer retired from Race 1 but Michelisz brought the car home on 5th place and went on to win Race 2 in a dominant fashion. He became the first rookie this season who took an overall victory and unquestionably the most impressive young driver of the field.

A year after winning the 2009 SEAT Leon EuroCup Norbert Michelisz was victorious in one of the most prestigious race of the season and won trophy in the FIA World Touring Car Championship as well. He finished 9th in the overall classification including an overall podium finish and victory with Zengő-Dension Team, the first and only Hungarian outfit in the world championship.

Photos by SEAT Sport

Hozzászólások