Norbert Michelisz

Too slow to play a role at the front of the grid: Norbert Michelisz and the MOL Group Zengő Motorsport team didn’t stand a chance in today’s qualifying for the Chinese rounds of FIA WTCC as all Honda cars experienced difficulties on their flying laps, enhanced, of course, by the 40 kilogram of additional ballast they have to carry due to their recent performances.

But it wasn’t for the lack of trying: Norbert in his No. 5 Honda Civic WTCC lapped the 4.6 kilometer track at Shanghai a total of eight times to finish 15th, improving his personal best lap time of the weekend by almost two seconds in the process and beating Honda works driver Tiago Monteiro by 0.179 seconds.

However, the competition improved even more and pole setter José María López in the all-dominating Citroën car finished exactly one second ahead of Norbert who now faces a tough challenge to score points in both races.

The qualifying session had to be postponed to Sunday morning due to a massive crash in a supporting series which required for the guardrails at the crash site to be replaced overnight.

Results Qualifying (Top 5)

01. José María López (Citroën) – 1:49,647 minutes

02. Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) +0.248s

03. Rob Huff (Lada) +0.386s

04. Yvan Muller (Citroën) +0.522s

05. Nick Catsburg (Lada) +0.545s

...

15. Norbert Michelisz (Honda) +1.006s

Source: zengomotorsport.hu