2010. July 29. 02:11 | no comments yet.  author: Viktor Adorján

330 kilometers: this is the distance that separates Budapest and Brno that will host the closest round of the FIA WTCC to the home of the Zengő-Dension Team. In 2009 the circuit was Norbert Michelisz's territory in the SEAT Leon EuroCup but this year he faces tough competition.

Hungary has never been as much in the centre of the world's most prestigious racing series' as it will be this weekend. While the FIA Formula One World Championship comes to the Hungaroring, Zengő-Dension Team, Hungary's first ever team in the FIA World Touring Car Championship is going to race just 330 kilometers away from the Hungarian capital in Brno, the Czech Republic.

There have been an F1 race on the Hungaroring for 25 years, we've had a Formula 1 driver but from this year an entire racing team with its young protégé is fighting in the WTCC and currently leading the Rookie Challenge.

It is Norbert Michelisz whose face is now featured on the official poster of the 2010 Race of the Czech Republic alongside series regulars like Augusto Farfus and Robert Huff which is a great honor for the team but more importantly it indicates that the Hungarian driver will be close to the centre of attention over the course of the weekend.

Michelisz earned this reputation by taking the 2009 SEAT Leon EuroCup crown, being a regular point scorer in the WTCC and more and more often the best rookie of the world championship. Two weeks ago he did a hat trick by being the best rookie on qualifying and both races as well.

Good memories

Brands Hatch is now already the part of the history just like Michelisz's previous appearance in Brno last year when he was pushing for taking the WTCC guest car offered by SEAT and to collect valuable points for his championship campaign.

He took pole position but a puncture stopped him to win Race 1 which meant he had to fight himself back from 13th on the grid. At the end of the 10 laps distance he found himself on P2 which meant that he passed 11 cars and climbed onto the podium.

"It is a reason for being hopeful that I took pole position on the EuroCup last year following some confusions after the free practices and I was the fastest driver among race circumstances as well," said Michelisz.

"But we have to accept that the WTCC field is much more competitive and seeing the performance of the private BMWs from last year it seems that a hard task is waiting for us," he added.

The worst possible track for the TDI

Unlike in the EuroCup, we need to take the differences between the cars into account when we're talking about the WTCC. There have been tracks that favored the SEAT Leon TDI being used by Zengő-Dension Team but two weeks ago Brands Hatch and especially Brno are not among these ones.

The characteristics of the circuit is not suiting to the TDI engine which explains why it has been so rare that a Spanish racecar was able to win a race here in the WTCC but as usual, Norbert Michelisz tried to catch the positives ahead of the weekend.

"Seeing the previous results, I won't have an easy ride again but Gabriele Tarquini's victory on Race 2 in 2008 leaves some hope. As always my main target on qualifying will be to advance into Q2 and then I would like to be one of the fastest SEAT drivers," Michelisz stated.

Fighting for the top spots will be certainly more difficult than it is usually and the unchanged state of the compensation weights won't help the situation either. The works BMWs, Chevrolets and the SEAT Leon TDIs will carry 40 kilos of weight again this time which means that fortunate circumstances will be needed for a spectacular result on Sunday.

Rain might be a good example of luck this weekend but the forecasts currently show that Saturday and Sunday won't be wet, rain is only possible on Friday when WTCC drivers won't hit the track as the test session got deleted again.

Looking forward to feel at home

Brno is an often mentioned circuit when it comes to talk about the enthusiasm of the fans. Motorcycle star Gábor Talmácsi receives a huge support year after year from the crowd on the trackside and while Norbert Michelisz is not as well known yet as Talmácsi he hopes he'll be boosted by the people on Sunday.

"The presence of many friends and family members will be surely an enormous motivation and I hope that with this spiritual help I'll be able to fly on the weekend."

We need to see whether it comes true or not but one thing is for sure: Michelisz will give everything on and off track as well including organized autograph sessions on Saturday and Sunday to celebrate his WTCC campaign together with the fans from Hungary and all over the world.

Photos by SEAT Sport & Dension

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