Hungary’s Norbert Michelisz took the Yokohama Independent’s Trophy in a dramatic final weekend of the World Touring Car Championship season in Macau, despite not finishing either race.
Zengő Motortsport driver Michelisz was caught up in a pile-up in the opening race along with main independent rivals Pepe Oriola and Stefano D’Aste at the notorious Lisboa corner. The incident blocked the track, allowing the leading six cars to escape. After a pit stop for repairs, Michelisz briefly rejoined the race to assess the damage to his BMW 320 TC.
Luckily for Michelisz his two main rivals also failed to finish the opening race, meaning that the title would go to the wire in the final race of the season. After an inital strong start, during which Michelisz led the opening lap, he would later lose the lead to Alex MacDowall and drop back to a solid second place behind leader Alain Menu. However on the ninth lap, and the first after several safety car laps, Oriola spun Michelisz in the barriers at Lisboa, also spelling the end of his race. Luckily for the Hungarian, D’Aste also retired later on the same lap, handing him his first Independent’s title.
Speaking about his successes during the season, Michelisz admitted that a run of mid-season consistency in which he scored nine podiums in eleven races, helped him to the title, despite a disastrous final six races of the season. He would ultimately take the title by 13 points from Oriola, after the leading trio managed just one point between them in the final race weekend.
“There are two major differences in comparison to my first season in a BMW 320 TC,” said Michelisz. “Firstly, I became more used to driving the car, and secondly, the team had a lot more experience with setting it up. All in all, it was our consistency that was the key element of our title win.
“We managed to win some victories and podium places by the ninth weekend in Sonoma (US), and this luckily meant my lead in the Independents’ Trophy was large enough for me to remain at the top, despite a great deal of bad luck on the last three weekends. I’m very happy.”
“The whole season has been a unique highlight for me and Zengő Motorsport,” continued Michelisz. “You’ll have seen we’ve been developing continuously, a trend that has manifested itself in our pole position and our victories. Continuous development is always the most important aspect for me. If you can make progress, then success will eventually come to you automatically. If I have to name a particular highlight from the season, however, then it would naturally be my home victory on the Hungaroring. Winning in front of my home crowd was a very special experience.”
Michelisz, 28, also explained how playing computer games when he was younger enabled him to get a break into real motorsport, something that is extremely unusual for any racing driver.
“I fell in love with Motorsport from the very first time I played a racing game on my computer,” explained Michelisz. “At that time, however, I didn’t have the chance to get in the driver’s seat of a real racing car. This meant the computer games were a good way to indulge my passion. They were also a good platform to get myself noticed. I had a great deal of luck that some people recognised my racing talent based on how I played the games and, through this, gave me a chance to drive a real racing car. That’s six years ago, now – I can hardly believe what we’ve managed to achieve since then!”