Norbert Michelisz focussed on opening race after successive pole-run

Norbert Michelisz says his main focus is quickly switching to the reversed grid opening race tomorrow, which will also feature the new joker lap concept for the first time in the WTCC, after securing his third pole position in a row at Vila Real.

Michelisz’s pole is his second of the season in the WTCC, but in-between races, the Hungarian raced at the Hungaroring last week where he took pole position in the TCR International Series, also seven-tenths of a second clear of the competition.

“I’m already thinking more about the opening race as more time passes since qualifying,” said Michelisz to TouringCarTimes. “I’m trying to think about how to survive the opening race.

“The biggest benefit of pole position is being on the right-hand side going up the hill, so even if someone has a slight overlap, you have the inside and it’s not possible to overtake on the inside,” he explained, an advantage he’ll lack starting from tenth on the grid for the first race.

This weekend the WTCC’s new joker lap format makes it debut, only for use during the Vila Real street race, and his thoughts are mixed about how it might benefit him in Race 1, but work against him in Race 2 when he starts from pole position.

“I’m a bit behind in the championship, so everything new is welcome to help gain positions,” said Michelisz. “If you have the fastest package though, you then don’t want anything to be different.

In response to a number of mooted safety concerns about the rejoin on the other side of the roundabout, Michelisz was one of those less worried about incident.

“We tried it with (my team-mate) Tiago (Monteiro) in FP2, so I’m not worried. OK, it was safe maybe as we wanted it to be safe, but if both drivers are intelligent, there won’t be any crash. “