Norbert Michelisz feels that a win ‘wasn’t possible’ in the World Touring Car Championship races around the Nürburgring Nordschleife on Saturday, after the Honda pole man only managed to finish in second in the Main Race.
Having started the Main Race from pole position, Michelisz suffered a clutch issue at the start which saw him lose the lead to Polestar’s Nicky Catsburg.
Whilst the Hungarian kept the pressure on for the remainder of the race, and withstood a challenge from Rob Huff behind, he was unable to effectively mount a challenge to re-take the lead.
“I had some problems with the clutch already in the Opening Race and couldn’t really keep the car in neutral, so my start in the Main Race wasn’t amazing,” explained Michelisz.
“I also had a vibration on the last lap in the Opening Race, after which I backed off to save the car, because I feared I could suffer a puncture like Tiago [Monteiro] and Ryo [Michigami] did.”
“It wasn’t a perfect start but still good enough to keep second. I’m quite happy with that and then after the first corner I really tried to cut back on Nicky after both him and Rob had contact, but wasn’t really able to do that.
“After that I really tried to manage the tyres, although I was struggling with understeer. From my feeling it wasn’t really possible to do anything more than that today.”
Combined with his seventh-placed finish in the Opening Race, Michelisz has managed to close the gap to the championship lead to 31 points.
The 32-year-old still feels that second is a good result, being only his second podium of the season after Morocco.
“I’m happy to be on the podium again at the Nurburgring. Pole position and now second place in the Main Race are good for me.
“I knew that it would be very difficult to win today because of how hard it is to defend on the main straight when your rivals have a slipstream, so second is a good result.”