After missing a few opportunities of claiming a win in the previous WTCR events of the season, Norbert Michelisz was finally victorious in the first race at the Nürburgring.
The Hungarian driver made a great start from second on the grid and flew to score an important win that relaunched him in the title fight. Actually, he has moved up to second in the standings, 28 points behind Esteban Guerrieri.
In vain the Argentine tried to close the gap at Turn 1 after the start to keep Michelisz at bay; as he didn’t succeed, he focused on keeping his teammate Nélson Girolami and Frédéric Vervisch behind to secure a second place that helped him to stretch his leading gap in the standings.
Behind the two leaders, Vervisch, Girolami and Rob Huff delivered a thrilling fight for the last spot on the podium. Everything was decided on the straight that links the Nordschleife to the Grand Prix circuit. At the end of lap 2, Huff benefited from the double aspiration generated by the cars of Vervisch and Girolami that clashed while running abreast and climbed from fifth to third. But on the third and final lap, it was his time to surrender to Girolami’s attack and lost the third place to the Argentine.
As for the other top drivers, Gabriele Tarquini retired from fifth with a power-steering issue at the end of the second lap, Thed Björk finished in 11th position, while Yvan Muller was eliminated in a collision with Huff just after the start.
Race 2 and 3 will follow tomorrow at 11:00 and 12:20 local time (CET) respectively.
Race 1
- Norbert Michelisz (BRC Squadra Corse, Hyundai i30 N), 3 laps
- Esteban Guerrieri (Münnich Motorsport, Honda Civic FK7), 1.762
- Nélson Girolami (Münnich Motorsport, Honda Civic FK7), 3.741
- Rob Huff (Sébastien Loeb Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 4.041
- Frédéric Vervisch (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 7.036
Championship points
- Girolami 189 pts
- Michelisz 161
- Björk 156