Norbert Michelisz takes his first win of 2017 in Portugal
Norbert Michelisz converted his pole position at the Vila Real circuit in Portugal into his first win of the season, leading the Volvo of Thed Björk by half a second, with local hero Tiago Monteiro finishing third, with the Portuguese driver maintaining his lead of the championship.
Michelisz made a good start from pole, but there was trouble for Rob Huff alongside in the Münnich Citroën, who stalled and dropped to the tail of the field, fortunately avoided by the cars behind.
Björk moved up to second in the Polestar Volvo as a result, with Monteiro now third in the #18 Honda Civic from fourth on the grid
Rob Huff quickly worked his way through the backmarkers and was on the tail of John Filippi’s Citroën for the final points position by the end of lap two.
Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën’s Tom Chilton was again the first driver to serve his joker lap on lap three when the window opened, with team-mate Filippi pre-empting a potential early joker play by Huff, taking the joker on lap three as well, with Huff opting to stay out.
The front-runners got their joker laps out of the way over the next two laps, with no changes to the order, while Huff served his on lap five, following this up with the fastest lap of the race which allowed him to get the jump on both Mehdi Benanni’s Citroën and Volvo’s Néstor Girolami as they served their joker lap on lap six.
Huff then caught Chilton’s Citroën, pressuring his rival Brit for the next five laps, taking fifth with three laps to go and set about closing down on the Volvo of Nicky Catsburg, but that’s as far as his fightback would take him.
Girolami lost a further spot to fellow countryman Esteban Guerrieri’s Chevrolet on the final lap, with Guerrieri claiming eighth with Girolami ninth, with Filippi taking the final points-paying position.
Up front, there was no stopping Michelisz, with the Hungarian taking his first win of the year and gaining critical ground in the championship. Michelisz is fourth in the standings, 27 points behind Tiago Monteiro, who keeps the lead, which is now down to just four points ahead of Volvo’s Thed Björk, with previous points leader Nicky Catsburg dropping to third, just ten points behind.
