Norbert Michelisz takes pole position at home on TCR debut
Norbert Michelisz has claimed pole position at the Hungaroring for his home race, his first outing in the TCR International Series in his M1RA Honda Civic, qualifying ahead of title contender Jean-Karl Vernay’s Volkswagen and his own Honda team-mate Attila Tassi.
Michelisz was the only driver in the 1:52s in the final part of qualifying, over six-tenths of a second clear of Vernay, who set a last-minute improvement to split the two Honda drivers.
Mat’o Homola had set the first benchmark in Q2 in the DG Sport Opel, before the red flags came out half-way through when Jens Reno Moller crashed out at Turn 1 in his Honda Civic.
When the session resumed, Homola was quickly dropped to fourth, with Pepe Oriola the fastest of the Craft-Bamboo Racing SEATs in fifth.
Roberto Colciago was sixth in his Honda, with Rob Huff seventh fastest in the WRT Volkswagen. Stian Paulsen was eighth in his SEAT, with the two WestCoast Racing Volkswagens of Gianni Morbidelli and Giacomo Altoè completing the top ten and securing the front row for Race 2, after Craft-Bamboo’s Dan Lloyd’s two laps were deleted for track limits, leaving him in 12th for both races.
In Qualifying 1, the two Comtoyou Racing Audis of Frédéric Vervisch and Stefano Comini didn’t have the pace to make it through, while Jean-Karl Vernay led the way in the Team WRT Volkswagen ahead of the two M1RA Hondas of Norbert Michelisz and Attila Tassi.
Craft-Bamboo Racing’s James Nash was another big name to miss the top 12, with Nash qualifying 13th, 1.6 seconds from Vernay’s Q1 time, while another disappointed driver was GE-Force’s Dusan Borkovic, with the Serbian qualifying in 18th in the Alfa Romeo Giulietta.
Nash has been reported to the stewards for blocking Michelisz in Q1, while contact between Tassi and Oriola in Q2 will also be investigated.
The first race takes place at 9:10 CET on Sunday.
