Norbert Michelisz came to within nine hundredths of a second from stealing pole position away from Mikel Azcona during yesterday’s WTCR qualifying session. Nonetheless, a front row start ensures that the Hungarian driver is well-placed to bounce back after a nightmare home event last time out.
As ever, Jean-Karl Vernay has looked strong for Hyundai this weekend, but on this occasion it was Michelisz who ended up as the South Korean marque’s best-performing driver. According to him, a lot of that pace was simply down to the hard work put in by his engineers to help him optimise the car’s set-up.
“Most of that is thanks to the team and the car to be honest,” he said. “We tried to improve from FP1 to FP2, we managed to do that, and then we did another step with the balance.
“So if you have a car like I had today, I don’t want to say it’s easy but it makes life much easier for a racing car driver. Of course, you have to put the lap together which I fortunately managed to do and I’m very happy with P2, because for me honestly, I know the gap is quite close to Mikel but there was almost nothing left in my quali lap. So I’m looking forward to the races on Sunday.”
Michelisz’s performance becomes all the more impressive when you consider that, after the latest round of ballast changes, his Hyundai Elantra N weighs in 50kg heavier than the CUPRA of Azcona.
“Yeah, for sure weight is helping him,” Michelisz confirmed. “But like he [Azcona] said, I’m sure he also did a fantastic lap, so it’s not only the car.
“I feel that we are good in the slow parts, but we are struggling a bit compared to the others in the medium speed, sometimes the braking as well. I didn’t really have the confidence in the first chicane, it’s always a very strange feeling with the grip, so let’s wait and see.
“The race will be a different story. Starting on the front row, I know pole is the preferred choice but starting even from P2 you have a clean path ahead. I think with a good start we can challenge Mikel.”
It is not yet guaranteed though that Azcona will be taking the start at Autodrom Most. The Spaniard is on double duty this weekend, and is currently in Barcelona attempting to secure the TCR Europe Series title. However, he has revealed to TouringCars.Net that in the unlikely scenario that he doesn’t wrap things up today, he’ll be staying in Spain to finish the job in the second race on Sunday, instead of participating in the FIA World Touring Car Cup.
If this proves to be the case, Michelisz would effectively inherit the first place on the grid in the WTCR feature race. That eventuality seems unlikely though, as Azcona has taken pole position in Barcelona, while his championship rival Franco Girolami failed to set a lap time and therefore will start both races from last place.