Norbert Michelisz admitted that losing out on victory in his home round of the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) at the Hungaroring was frustrating, but says that such situations are just ‘a part of the game’.
Despite being the fastest driver on single lap pace through the weekend, taking two outright pole positions, Michelisz failed to win any of the three races following average starts on Saturday and Sunday.
Despite that, the Hungarian fan favourite was philosophical about his results, with two podium finishes and a points finish elevating him back into overall title contention after a difficult opening weekend in Morocco three weeks’ ago.
“In the end it is frustrating, it is a bit sad but that’s part of the game,” said Michelisz to TouringCars.Net. “If you have drivers of this level around you, you cannot afford to have a medium start because they overtake you so easily.
“I was happy with my speed this weekend but for sure I need to work on my standing starts in the future. I have all the data and information available, so it’s just a matter of time.”
Michelisz lost out to Honda’s Esteban Guerrieri in the first race on Saturday, before slipping behind BRC Racing team-mate Gabriele Tarquini in the final race of the weekend.
The 33-year-old admits that he needs to work on improving his start in order to be able to compete in future races.
“It was the same yesterday with Esteban, who did a really good start and I did an average start, and in the end it was enough to be behind him, and the same happened today.
“You have a clear procedure about the standing start, but still you need to manage how the car is speeding up. Especially in the first couple of [thousand revs], it is driver dependent. This for sure I need to work on.”
Michelisz leaves his home round fourth overall in the standings, 42 points behind leader Tarquini.
“In this championship if you have the possibility to win, you need to grab that, and this is why it’s a bit frustrating.
“OK, on paper the points I collected this weekend are a lot, and I am happy because it is bringing me closer to the championship lead, but on the other hand because it’s so tight, if you have a possibility you need to be there and you need to grab it.”