Pierre-Yves Corthals blasts Norbert Michelisz for race-ending contact

DG Sport Opel had a tough end to the season after narrowly missing out on the 2016 TCR Benelux series title to Boutsen Ginion Honda driver Stéphane Lémeret, with Pierre-Yves Corthals crashing out in Race 4 at Mettet, with both drivers blaming each other for the incident.

Michelisz had started from pole position, while Corthals had quickly passed Aurélien Comte’s Peugeot for second at Surtees, before making a move down the inside of Michelisz’s Honda at Saarinen. The two would make contact at the exit of the corner, with Corthals’ car spinning off down the infield and taking heavy damage, causing the race to be red flagged while the Astra TCR was recovered.

“We had a really good start behind with Michelisz, and I passed him at Turn 5 and he hit me in the rear,” said Corthals to TouringCarTimes. “It was not sporting from him at all. He turned in on the rear of my car.

“I don’t understand,” he added. “He’d won the championship in Race 3, so why did he do that? Was he just frustrated because someone passed him? He’s an official driver and he did a move like this, it was very unfair.”

Michelisz, who went on to win the race over ten seconds clear of Comte’s Peugeot, had a different slant on the incident.

“There was contact with Pierre-Yves, I don’t really know what happened to him,” said Michelisz to TouringCarTimes. “Ggoing into Turn 5, he pushed me from behind, and because of the push he was able to get up the inside; but then he wanted to run me off the circuit. I didn’t know what his plan was, I’m not here to make trouble, but in the end, he didn’t leave me any choice.

“The problem was I was defending on the inside and he pushed me while I was braking, so his main intention was to push me off onto the grass. It’s really unfortunate, as I imagine for him to finish the season on the podium would have been nice. I can understand in a way he was frustrated by not winning the championship, but I still don’t think this was right.”