Norbert Michelisz romps to victory at Assen in Race 3
Norbert Michelisz put co-driver Stéphane Lémeret’s championship challenge back on track after a lights-to-flag victory in the third sprint race of the day at the Circuit TT Assen, while trouble for chief rival, Opel driver Pierre-Yves Corthals. saw the Belgian failing to score.
Michelisz led the way in his Boutsen-Ginion Racing Honda Civic TCR ahead of the Team WRT Volkswagen of Loris Hezemans at the start, while Corthals was able to pass the Honda of Tom Coronel for third on the first lap.
However, on lap two, Corthals, Coronel and Team WRT SEAT driver Denis Dupont were involved in an incident, with Coronel now moving up to third while Corthals fell to 11th, and Dupont was forced to pit and retire.
During the first three laps, Michelisz built up a six-second lead over Hezemans’ Volkswagen, before Coronel overtook his countryman on lap three and began closing in on his WTCC rival.
Coronel eventually closed to half a second of his Boutsen-Ginion Honda team-mate, but it was Michelisz who took the win, taking the maximum possible 25 points from the race.
Corthals had recovered to eighth before running into trouble on lap seven and retiring, allowing Lémeret to extend his championship lead to 56.5 points thanks to Michelisz’s victory.
The fourth and final race of the weekend follows imminently, with the grid set as per the results of Race 3.
