Top class Algarve Circuit awaits for the WTCC

2010. június 30. 01:47 | még nem szólt hozzá senki.  szerző: Viktor Adorján

Portugal's still new Algarve Circuit will host the 5th round of the 2010 FIA WTCC where Norbert Michelisz aims to continue that improvement that he has shown since the beginning of the season. The pecking order depends on how does the track suit for the SEAT Leon TDI.

Four different venues hosted races in Portugal that Norbert Michelisz have participated since he has stepped up to the international level of touring car racing. Based on this quick fact it was likely that he'll have some degrees of knowledge about the location of the upcoming Race of Portugal.

The race will take place on the almost new, state of the art venue near Portimao. The track was built following the Formula One standards and used by various high level championship for racing and the F1 itself for testing purposes. The layout and the facilities are impressive, we can say that the Race of Portugal is expected to be one of the high points of the season.

Especially since Norbert Michelisz says that the circuit is nice from the driver's point of view as well but his competitiveness will mainly depend on the overall performance of his package and he is not quite sure what will happen in Portugal.

"I really like this track and I think it suits my driving style but it will again be all about how it works out for the SEAT. I think, based on the recently publicized weight list, the BMWs will be very strong again and I'm awaiting SEAT to be on the level of Chevrolet," said the young rookie.

Michelisz will be driving to extend his lead in the Rookie Challenge following his big gain in the classification in Zolder but the main driver of the Zengő-Dension Team is more interested in the laptimes than the current state of the point table.

He added: "We'll fight for the top 6 places in qualifying and we'll see what happens on the race. Seeing the outcome of Zolder, I think everything can happen in the top 10."

Not only the car will be decisive in terms of the outcome, the teamwork and the cooperation is also heavily involved in getting the results on Saturday and Sunday. The negotiations between Norbert Michelisz and his race engineer Arnau Niubó Bosch are constantly a subject of observation and Michelisz says that they still have got a lot to learn but they're making progress.

"I feel too that we are at the beginning of the development curve and the improvement is reasonably sheer and this won't change over the course of the next 3 or 4 races.

"My engineer still knows little about me as a racing driver and this is limiting his fields to work on. At least 3-4 more races will be needed until we arrive to a state where we can say that there is not much to bring out," Michelisz explained.

Seeing a bright future

This state of progress makes the young driver optimistic for the future especially since he is happy to note that regarding the laptimes in Zolder he was among the frontrunners on the races, this is something that shows that the potential is there to become more stronger as the experience grows.

"I'm absolutely calm," stated Michelisz. - "From the inside I feel that we are improving step by step and I think this can be seen from the outside as well. The team is working more and more efficiently with the engineer and I think that the most important is to see that in Zolder there were 7-8 drivers on the same pace and I was among them on the race and on the qualifying as well.

"Taking this into account and the fact that there is still a lot to learn and to improve then I think I can be very hopeful for the period ahead of us. I feel absolutely good and I really looking forward every race that is coming."

The forthcoming one will be based in Portimao, the brand new, state of the art facility that is one of the few circuits in the calendar that is up to the current F1 standards. The 4,654 m long circuit is located 7 kilometers from Portimao and while we don't have official information regarding the laptimes, last year Norbert Michelisz did a 1:54.756 with his SEAT Leon Supercopa and took pole position in the Spanish championship.

WTCC cars are expected to be faster of course on the circuit that allows its layout to be modified. The world championship will use the configuration that was approved by the FIM for the motorbikes with 9 right and 6 left corners included.

One and a half hours to get ready

While BMW and Chevrolet both tested on the circuit, Norbert Michelisz will have to rely on only his previous experiences with the Supercopa car as the first time he'll drive on the circuit will be the 30 minutes test session on Friday.

"All WTCC teams tested there. We have some information from the test days.  It’s a circuit where it’s important to find a good braking and good car balance between fast and slow corners. But it will be really important use the information from free practice to find the right set up for qualifying and races," said Arnau Niubó Bosch, technical director of Zengő-Dension Team.

The Hungarian driver admitted that he would have liked to have more experience but said that he thinks this amount of tracktime will be enough to get ready in time for the qualifying.

Especially since his engineer, Arnau Niubó Bosch stated in Zolder that they're only aiming to be high on the timesheets when it matters, on qualifying and races, before that it is more important to fulfill their program and get Michelisz comfortable in the car.

A circuit with 'complete layout'

Portimao will pose a special challenge for the drivers and for the engineers as well. Arnau Niubó said that the layout is containing very different type of corners and geographical items that are spicing up the action.

"Portimao is 4.6 km long circuit with 15 corners. It’s a circuit with a complete layout: there are hard brakings, brakings with lateral g’s, slow corners and very fast ones with uphill and downhills," he said. 

Niubó expects that Michelisz will have a slight advantage in terms of getting to know the circuit thanks to his previous experiences from the 2009 Spanish SEAT Leon Supercopa but the engineer said he doesn't think that this will be decisive.

"His experience with the SuperCopa car will be a help for him because he knows the circuit layout but it won’t be really an advantage over the other WTCC competitors because some of them had also competed or tested there before."

Therefore it is tough to predict what will happen this week, but it is for sure that the competition will be tough again as the compensation weights will stay as it was in Zolder and the field will be dedicated to do well.

Two drivers will be in the focus this weekend, one of them is Tiago Monteiro, the former F1 driver racing on home soil and BTCC driver Colin Turkington who'll drive his Motorbase BMW in the WTCC in Portimao and Brands Hatch.

Get ready for the second installment of the eight weeks long first part of the European leg as the WTCC prepare to race this weekend in Portugal.

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