Norbert Michelisz will start rounds nineteen and twenty of the 2011 FIA World Touring Car Championship from thirteen on the grid after a difficult qualifying session where the Hungarian driver complained of a lack of balance in his Zengo-Dension Team BMW 320TC.
The problems for Michelisz meant that he wasn’t able to challenge for the top ten shootout and for the second time in 2011, he missed out on the top ten, and will line up on the seventh row for both Suzuka races, ahead of his main Yokohama Independents Title rival, Kristian Poulsen.
“I was expecting for a lot more but I’m still not as disappointed as I could be,” said Michelisz. “Obviously, it is sad to stay out of Q2 but we are experimenting with various settings on the car and with fresh tyres the balance was really not good today.
“In a few corners, I suffered badly with the car and on the top of that those were the corners where the problem used to be the understeer. I’m not saying that it was behaving incorrectly but it was so unusual and this is the reason of not being able to advance into Q2. It is extremely difficult to overtake on this track so the races will be tough tomorrow.”