Norbert Michelisz confirms race two pole was target

Zengõ Motorsport’s Norbert Michelisz will start from the front row of race two in his Honda Civic behind the works car of Gabriele Tarquini, a strategy which the young Hungarian admitted was deliberate when it seemed clear that dropping out of the top ten was unlikely, when Campos’ Dusan Borkovic went off at Turn 9 on his first lap.

“After Borkovic went into the gravel, my target was to get tenth, but I was not sure if I have to improve my time from the first run in Q2,” he said.

“To be very honest, if we had done the maximum, I imagine that would be position six or seven, so for us it’s ideal for the second race as to be eighth, ninth or tenth instead of sixth…as you don’t get extra points (anyway), but you get a much better starting position for the second race.”

Tarquini starts from pole position, and both Tarquini and Michelisz were the only two Hondas to simulate a race run in free practice, and are hoping that they’ll be able to hold off the charge from the Chevrolets and Citroëns which start behind and are likely to try to move forward.

“I have three cars behind me that can fight with the others,” said Tarquini. “We will see what our strategy will be after the first race. Our cars don’t seem very weak on race pace. This morning I was happy with my pace and I saw Norbi did a few laps as well, so we can make a plan after the first race when we’ve (seen the others’) race pace.”