Norbert Michelisz warns to not draw conclusions from Vila Real FP0 pace
Honda Racing Team JAS driver Norbert Michelisz has said conclusions about Honda’s relative pace to the competition should not be drawn after the testing session at Vila Real on Friday, where Michelisz and team-mate Rob Huff finished first and third, with only Citroën’s Yvan Muller within a second of the Hungarian.
Michelisz finished the test session within a tenth of José María López’s qualifying lap record from last year, though the circuit has had minor modifications at the chicane which was much maligned by the drivers and the organisers last year.
“There’s not a huge amount of changes,” said Michelisz to TouringCarTimes. “The slowest part last year with the very tight chicane on the top of the circuit in the middle sector is a bit more open, but the difference is not huge…in terms of driving it’s almost the same circuit.”
The 31-year-old remarked that the Portuguese street circuit, the last street circuit on the schedule following the removal of Macau, is one of his favourite circuits in the WTCC.
“I liked the circuit last year from the very first moment,” he said. “For me this is my second favourite on the calendar after the Nürburging in terms of driving and the excitement of going around the circuit, so I knew I had the confidence immediately after going out.
“I’m also happy with general performance, I had traffic on my first lap with new tyres, so I think there’s more time to come from the car.”
Although Michelisz’s pace was quick throughout the test, championship leader José María López set just one lap in the session which was good enough for fourth, hinting that more pace was to come from the Citroën drivers, but he said it was key not to focus on this.
“One thing I’ve learned is that in FP0 you can’t make any conclusions,” he said. “OK, it looks promising now, but everyone’s improving throughout the weekend so I don’t care about the results today or what the others are doing, and just keep improving the car step-by-step.”
