Norbert Michelisz reclaims points lead with Race 2 victory

Norbert Michelisz has moved back into the lead of the World Touring Car Cup standings after a lights-to-flag victory in the second race of the weekend at Suzuka.

Having lost the championship lead after a trying race one on Saturday, Michelisz started race two from pole and defended hard from the Volkswagen of Rob Huff at the start to retain the lead when the lights went out, with the Hyundai man cutting across to the right hand side of the circuit on the run to turn one.

Showing improved pace compared to Saturday’s opener when running in clear air, the Hungarian immediately started to try and break away from the Volkswagen behind, with Gabriele Tarquini in third fighting to defend his position from the Alfa Romeo of Kevin Ceccon.

Further back, race one winner Esteban Guerrieri found himself slipping back behind the Cupra of Mikel Azcona at the start of lap two after the Spaniard made his move into turn one, whilst Yvan Muller was fighting his way into the points and had made it ahead of nephew Yann Ehlacher into 15th within the opening few laps.

The Frenchman then moved up into 14th at the end of lap seven, when Attila Tassi drifted wide at the final corner through the gravel whilst running in 13th spot and plummeted down the order.

Having been warned for his move at the start, Michelisz was able to maintain a slender lead over Huff at the front, with the pair breaking away from Tarquini behind, with the Italian trying to break away from Ceccon in the fight for the final place on the podium.

Behind, Thed Björk was once again heading the Lynk & Co challenge in fifth ahead of race one podium finisher Monteiro, with the leading places remaining static around the short Suzuka East circuit as drivers found overtaking opportunities at a premium.

In fact, it was a similar story throughout the points scoring positions, with the main action as the race approached half-way being outside the top 20 as Tassi’s Honda came under pressure from the Cupras of Tom Coronel and Daniel Haglöf in the battle for 21st place.

Having finished second to Guerrieri in race one, Niels Langeveld was involved in the battle behind Tassi, but contact with Augusto Farfus through the S Curves saw his Audi go off the road and dropped the Dutch driver to the back of the field before he returned to the pits to become the only retirement of the race.

Back at the front, Michelisz was holding a slender lead over Huff for the win but fellow Hyundai man Tarquini was finding his mirrors full of Ceccon’s Alfa Romeo, with the pair running side-by-side through turn one at the 18th lap as the defending champion fought hard to retain his position.

There was a change further down the order however, as Jean-Karl Vernay made the most of Nestor Girolami and Benjamin Leuchter fighting for tenth place to squeeze past the pair into turn one at the start of the 21st lap – with the Frenchman getting ahead of Guerrieri into ninth a lap later.

At the front, Michelisz was able to hold on to take his fourth win of the campaign ahead of Huff, who secured his first podium finish of a trying campaign in the Volkswagen with second.

Having made contact at the start of the penultimate lap whilst trying to go round the outside at turn one, Ceccon had one final run at Tarquini for the podium on the final lap but couldn’t find a way ahead, with Tarquini holding on to third spot from his countryman. Björk and Monteiro then rounded out the top six.

Michelisz now leads Guerrieri by six points in the standings going into race three, with Muller 37 points back in third after he could only could only make it up to 14th place.

The final race of the weekend takes place at 11.30 local time.