Norbert Michelisz on win: “It could not have been at a better place than here.”

Norbert Michelisz scored his first victory of the 2016 WTCC season at Twin Ring Motegi in front of a Japanese home crowd for Honda, and his first win since joining the factory squad at the start of this year, remarking on the incredible step forward the team has made.

Michelisz started from pole position for the opening race after playing the strategy card in qualifying, and led the way at the start ahead of team-mate Rob Huff, while Tiago Monteiro worked his way forward from seventh to third, securing a dream podium lock-out result for Honda at home.

“I was aiming for this for a few weekends now, I put a lot of pressure on myself as I wanted it so badly, but it could not have been at a better place than here,” said Michelisz to TouringCarTimes.

“Last year I was able to give Honda a pole position here on home soil, and I’m very happy that this year it was a race win, I’m so very proud of that.”

The Honda factory cars were also carrying the same weight as rivals Citroën for the first time this season, and the strong pace shown in the two races, with Honda’s 1-2-3 in the first race, and with Monteiro scoring a podium in the second race.

“It’s amazing. From a personal and team point of view it’s fantastic, but the most important thing as coming here with 80kg at a circuit where we’re braking and accelerating as we are here, we just knew that it’s going to be really tough. OK, we were not on the same level as Citroën, but we were only three-four tenths off in the race, so it’s obvious we’re making steps in the right direction, and I think this is the most important thing.”