Photo: WTCC

Norbert Michelisz claims pole position in Portugal

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Norbert Michelisz has taken his second consecutive pole position of the 2017 World Touring Car Championship season at Vila Real, outqualifying the Citroën of Rob Huff, while a mistake for Michelisz’s Honda team-mate Tiago Monteiro on the one-lap shootout caused the Portuguese driver to qualify in fourth at home.

Monteiro emerged as the main threat to Michelisz, after the Portuguese driver topped both Qualifying 1 and Qualifying 2, with the two Honda drivers safely through into the Qualifying 3 top five shootout.

Joining the Hondas in the top five were the two Volvos of Nicky Catsburg and Thed Björk, and the Münnich Motorsport-run Citroën of Rob Huff.

Björk was also fast in Qualifying 1, where he’d set his fastest lap of the weekend, but as this was set as he cut the Turn 19 chicane, knocking wide a bollard and causing the red flags to fly, the Swede had his lap time deleted, but he was still safely through into Q2.

The red flag helped Volvo complete repairs on Néstor Girolami’s Volvo, which had hit the barriers at Turn 5 at the start of the session and the bonnet had flown up as a result of the damage.

This allowed Girolami to set one banker lap and get him into Q2, demoting the Zengo Honda of Aurélien Panis, who was soon beaten by both the RC Ladas of Kevin Gleason and Manuel Fernandes, but neither were fast enough to make the top 12 and into Q2.

In Qualifying 2, Monteiro led the way ayead of Michelisz, Huff, Catsburg and Björk, while Ryo Michigami found himself tenth, securing the Japanese driver pole position for the opening race tomorrow with the reversed top ten grid.

In the one-lap shootout, championship leader Nicky Catsburg aborted his lap suffering with a vibration, giving his team-mate Thed Björk a clear run to be the best-placed Volvo.

Rob Huff followed and set a time in the mid-1:56s to take provisional pole, a good target for the two Hondas that followed, with Michelisz going fastest on a 1:55.846.

Monteiro was last out, but the Portuguese driver was slightly behind Michelisz in the first two sectors, and pushed too hard at the Turn 26 roundabout, sliding the rear into the corner and losing time, dropping out of what would have been second place to fourth for his home race.

Michelisz’s pole is his second in a row, after taking pole at the Nürburgring last month.