Norbert Michelisz was delighted to score a second FIA World Touring Car Cup win in as many meetings, with the Hungarian dominating Saturday’s on track action in Vila Real.
Michelisz claimed pole position for race one by a margin of three tenths of a second over BRC Racing team-mate Augusto Farfus, and he then converted that into a lights-to-flag win in the first of three races on the street circuit.
The Hyundai driver went unchallenged for the win, having at one stage opened up a three-second lead over Farfus, who acted as a buffer against the chasing pack for Michelisz before eventually losing out to Yann Ehrlacher on the joker lap.
With championship rival Esteban Guerrieri failing to score any points in the race, Michelisz has taken a huge chunk out of his rival’s lead at the top of the table, with the deficit reduced to 15 points.
Michelisz described his day as a ‘dream’ as he insisted his second win of the season was not easy.
“The day started like a dream with qualifying,” said Michelisz. “Here of course you have the inside starting from the first place, so I was really focused on the start. I think we were quite equal with Augusto and Yann and this was already 50 per cent of the job.
“Then I have to say we did a fantastic team job and I’m really grateful to Augusto. I managed to pull a gap, I was pushing 100 per cent, not leaving anything on the table and fortunately the gap was big enough on lap three to do the joker lap.
“I don’t want to say it was an easy race. After Yann did the joker and overtook Augusto I really had to push.
“There were one or two laps where I tried to slow down a bit, but then I saw he was taking big chunks out of the gap, so I was pushing again. It wasn’t an easy race, but I’m incredibly happy.
“We will not be in position like this every race weekend, but if you are in this position you need to make the most out of it. I think today I also was a bit lucky.
“I don’t know what happened to Esteban in qualifying, but for sure 15 points is better than 45, but tomorrow is another day and let’s wait and see.”