Norbert Michelisz hails “dream day” at Vila Real as he slashes the points gap
BRC Racing Team driver Norbert Michelisz has said the first day of the weekend at Vila Real has been like a dream, after the Hungarian capitalised on a disastrous day for Münnich Motorsport’s Esteban Guerrieri, with the points leader seeing his advantage shrink from 45 to 15 points.
The 34-year-old qualified on pole position, breaking the lap record at the Vila Real street circuit in his Hyundai i30 N TCR, and then in the race he converted it into an easy victory, pulling away from team-mate Augusto Farfus, who held back the Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 03 TCR of Yann Ehrlacher, which gave Michelisz at three second lead before they completed their joker laps over laps three and four.
“The day started like a dream with qualifying,” said Michelisz.
“I was focussed on the start, as this is 50% of the job at this circuit; and I have to say it was a fantastic team job. I’m grateful to Augusto (Farfus) managed to pull the gap and then I did the joker lap.
“It wasn’t all easy, as I had to push when Yann (Ehrlacher) passed Augusto during his joker.”
Michelisz has taken the maximum possible score of 30 points, with the Hyundai looking like the car to beat around the Portuguese street circuit. It was a disaster for his main rival Esteban Guerrieri, who after an engine sensor issue in qualifying, was running in 14th before developing a misfire and slid to 24th, and well outside of the points at the finish.
“My target to extract anything out of my possibilities. We won’t have races like this every weekend, and to have a gap of 15 points is much better than 45 – but tomorrow is another day, so let’s wait and see.”
