Norbert Michelisz was left’ hugely disappointed’ to miss out on victory in the Opening World Touring Car Championship race in Shanghai, with the Honda ace missing out at the penultimate corner.
Hungarian Michelisz had led all 15 laps of the race prior to the final lap, and looked set to add a second win of the season to his name.
Having initially led from Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Tom Chilton, and LADA’s Gabriele Tarquini, Michelisz found his safety cushion wiped out after nine laps when Tarquini clattered into the side of Chilton, forcing both drivers out of the race.
That opened up the floodgates for the charging Volvo of Thed Björk to close in on Michelisz’s two-second lead, and after some very defensive driving by the Hungarian in the closing laps, Björk was able to pounce on the last tour.
Using the straight-line speed and weight advantage – the Volvos are running without any compensation weight, 60 kg lighter – Björk powered past Michelisz on the back straight on the final lap.
Despite some penultimate turn contact, with broke Björk’s rear suspension, Michelisz was unable to take the win, leaving him hugely frustrated.
“On the one hand I’m very pleased to finish second,” said Michelisz. “It’s not something I was expecting after free practice, and after qualifying I thought that a podium finish would be a great result.
“But of course, when you lead for 98 per cent of a race, it’s hugely disappointing not to win. I lost a good lead when the safety car came out and with 60 kg of compensation weight, I had to ask a lot of the front tyres when I tried to re-establish a gap.
“This is what compromised my pace for the past few laps. I defended well from Thed, but it wasn’t quite enough.”
Despite the obvious frustration, Michelisz has moved up to fourth overall in the drivers’ championship standings, just 14 points behind team-mate Tiago Monteiro, even though he ultimately finished the Main Race outside the points in 11th.
JAS Motorsport Team Principal Alessandro Mariani praised Michelisz for his performances with a car which was not suited to the Shanghai International Circuit.
“I think we maximised what we were capable of this weekend,” added Mariani. “We knew that this would not be a great circuit for us as the characteristics of the track, with long straights, don’t allow us to exploit the strengths of the Civic.
“Norbi drove a fantastic Opening Race and was very unfortunate to lose the victory so close to the end, and Tiago and Rob [Huff] both made some good progress too.
“The Main Race showed what our pace was this weekend and unfortunately that meant not so many points, but the positive is that we should lose a lot of compensation weight for the next round, which will help our performance level.”