Photo: Honda Racing

Norbert Michelisz: “Today was a dream day”

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Norbert Michelisz scored his second home win today in front of an adoring crowd of fans at the Hungaroring, ending Citroën Total WTCC’s 2015 winning streak, also assuming the lead of the Yokohama Independents’ Trophy.

The 30-year-old had qualified on pole position for race two courtesy of the top ten reversed grid, and launched off the line to lead into the first corner ahead of the ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet of Tom Coronel and went on to build almost a ten second margin before the end of the race.

“Thankfully I managed to do a good start, it was not perfect, but it was enough to keep the lead, and after that I knew I just had to keep pushing,” said Michelisz. “I had a really good car and after lap six or seven I was able to go a little bit easier, but it was very difficult to stay focussed for the second part of the race,” he added.

“Every time I crossed the finish line, I didn’t want to look to the left (towards the crowd), but I didn’t manage to do that. It was so amazing to see all the people standing up cheering for me. I remember very well 2012 when I first won here, but today was just unbelievable. It’s a dream day, of course I would like to thank everyone who came today and who supported me as I think it was a win for all of us.”

Michelisz’s win in the second race also meant he was the first driver to win an overall race in a TC1 car in the Yokohama Trophy classification since it was revamped this year as the independents’ category. With Hugo Valente taking the class victory in race one, the French driver has now jumped up to fourth place.

With Mehdi Bennani suffering a difficult weekend in the Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën, the Moroccan slips from the lead of the class to third in the classification behind ROAL driver Tom Chilton.

The Zengő team were so eager to celebrate Michelisz’s and their own fourth victory in the WTCC, they made the common but officially frowned upon display of climbing the debris fence to cheer on their driver as he crossed the line, picking up a 500 EUR fine as a penalty from the officials.