Norbert Michelisz

They had been away from the race tracks for a couple of weeks. But today Norbert Michelisz and the MOL Group Zengő Motorsport team proved that they didn’t lose any speed as the No. 5 Honda Civic WTCC classified within the top 4 in each of Saturdays three practice sessions at Chang International Circuit in Thailand.

Norbert even managed the best lap time of the day, lapping the 4.5 kilometer track in 1:38,260 minutes during testing. Free practice 1 saw him finish fourth behind the all-dominating Citroën drivers, in free practice 2 Norbert went fast enough for third place.

The Hungarian race driver was on track for a total of 29 laps to try and discover the circuit that is new for everybody in FIA WTCC.

“We had a successful Saturday here in Thailand”, Norbert says. “In all sessions we were among the top 4. Of course, it’s free practice only and it may be difficult at times to draw conclusions from that. But it seems our performance is better than I had expected before the weekend. Still, I’m cautious before qualifying. I will do my best to have a clean and good session tomorrow.”

Results Testing (Top 5)
01. Norbert Michelisz (Honda) – 1:38,260 minutes
02. Nicolas Lapierre (Lada) +0.148s
03. Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) +0.595s
04. Hugo Valente (RML Chevrolet) +0.596s
05. Nick Catsburg (Lada) +0.710s

Results Free Practice 1 (Top 5)
01. José María López (Citroën) – 1:40,074 minutes
02. Mehdi Bennani (Citroën) +0.299s
03. Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) +0.549
04. Norbert Michelisz (Honda) +0.562s
05. Gabriele Tarquini (Honda) +0.812s
...
07. Norbert Michelisz (Honda) +0.856s

Results Free Practice 2 (Top 5)
01. Tom Chilton (RML Chevrolet) – 1:38,881 minutes
02. Gabriele Tarquini (Honda) +0.078s
03. Norbert Michelisz (Honda) +0.132s
04. Tiago Monteiro (Honda) +0.177s
05. Mehdi Bennani (Citroën) +0.368s

Source: zengomotorsport