Norbert Michelisz tops final practice session at the Hungaroring
M1RA’s Norbert Michelisz was fastest of all in the second and final practice session at the Hungaroring, putting his Honda Civic over half a second clear of Team WRT’s Jean-Karl Vernay in the final moments, following a near-miss on track with the GE-Force Alfa Romeo of Dusan Borkovic.
The session was reduced in length, after it was red flagged almost straight away when the Kia Cee’d of Ferenc Ficza stopped at Turn 5 on its out lap, which was effectively its shakedown lap.
The question will be whether the officials even allow the car to take part in qualifying, having not yet set a lap in testing or competition.
Norbert Michelisz was the first driver to break the 1:55 barrier in the session with a time of 1:54.440, before improving to 1:54.122 on his next run.
It was his team-mate Attila Tassi who emerged as his main threat though, with the 18-year-old Hungarian going fastest of all with just under ten minutes to go, setting a time of 1:53.781.
Team WRT’s Jean-Karl Vernay then took over at the top of the time sheets, stealing a tow from the rival Volkswagen of Gianni Morbidelli down the main street.
Michelisz was now out on a better lap, setting the best first sector and a strong second, before he came across Dusan Borkovic’s GE-Force Alfa Romeo in the final sequence with the two nearly making contact. Michelisz backed off, but then blasted away Vernay’s lap time with a 1:52.860, finishing the session nearly eight-tenths clear.
Tassi finished the session third behind Vernay, with James Nash leading the three Craft-Bamboo Racing SEATs in fourth ahead of Dan Lloyd and Pepe Oriola.
Gianni Morbidelli was seventh for WestCoast Racing in the Volkswagen, one spot ahead of team-mate Giacomo Altoè, with the Honda of Jens Reno Moller ninth, and Mat’o Homola’s Opel completing the top ten.
Big names outside of the top ten include both Comtoyou Audi drivers, with Frédéric Vervisch 14th and Stefano Comini 19th, while Team WRT’s Rob Huff was 17th and M1RA Honda’s Roberto Colciago 21st.
Ficza failed to set a lap time, while Czabo Toth in the Zengo SEAT missed his second practice in a row, leaving Anett Gyorgy to bring up the rear, eight seconds off the pace in her SEAT León TCR V2 DSG.
In regards to track limits, Attila Tassi received a final warning from the stewards for exceeding the track limits on several occasions, while Jens Reno Moller went past that and was summoned to the stewards after practice.
Qualifying is next for the TCR International Series and takes place at 16:50 CET.
