Norbert Michelisz moves on from qualifying clash

World Touring Car Cup title contender Norbert Michelisz is eager to move on from the Q1 smash that took him out of second qualifying in Macau.

Michelisz got tangled up in a multi-car melee initiated when Gordon Shedden ploughed into the barriers at Moorish Hill, leaving both drivers unable to continue the session.

Michelisz ended Q1, which was red-flagged in response to the incident, fourth fastest and appeared well placed for a strong result while title rival Esteban Guerrieri struggled.

With his Hyundai i30 N TCR significantly damaged, however, Michelisz had no choice but to sit out the rest of qualifying, leaving him 12th on the grid for races two and three of the weekend.

“Qualifying was disappointing today,” said the Hungarian. “We had the car today to progress to Q2 and probably to fight for the top five but you can always have this in Macau and you have to be prepared for things like this.

“The strategy was to have Gabriele [Tarquini, team-mate] help us with the slipstream. We made two attempts and we had to push to get to the line for the last run. At Turn 16 [Moorish Hill], it’s a blind corner. Shedden went into the barrier and was blocking half of the circuit and I collected him. I couldn’t do anything to avoid this.

“The important thing now is how to improve for the future. Still we have a good chance tomorrow in Race 1 to score big and also starting from P12 [in Race 2 and Race 3] there are points on the table. My main aim is to collect as many points as possible. I don’t want to say it was a perfect day for us because it was not, but it’s still a good base to fight and score points in all the races.”

In the preceding first qualifying session of the day, Michelisz qualified second and will thus start Saturday’s Race 1 from the front row of the grid alongside Yvan Muller.

Shedden has been withdrawn from the remainder of the Macau weekend due to the damage sustained to his Audi RS 3 LMS in the crash.