Photo: WTCR

Norbert Michelisz wins in mixed conditions to close in on title

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Norbert Michelisz controlled a rain-affected first race of the World Touring Car Cup finale at Sepang to edge ever closer to the 2019 title, with the championship chase now down to just three contenders.

Michelisz started the race from pole, and showed no signs of relinquishing his grip on the title despite the added intricacy of mixed conditions.

The race began behind the safety car on a soggy track, with teams undecided on whether to fit their cars with slicks or wet-weather tyres.

It ultimately proved a mixed deck of cards, with a variety of different tyre strategies applied across the field.

As the race went properly underway at the start of lap two, Michelisz maintained his lead into the sweeping first corner, and then never looked back.

The Hungarian comfortably led the entire race from the front in his Hyundai i30 N TCR, eventually coming home 2.4 seconds ahead of Cupra’s Aurélien Panis who scored his best-ever WTCR result with second place.

With Gabriele Tarquini completing the podium, BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse dramatically reduced the gap to Cyan Racing Lynk & Co in the teams’ standings, slashing the gap from 61 to 31 points.

That was despite the best efforts of the impressive Yvan Muller, who started 16th but recovered all the way to sixth to keep his title hopes alive in his Lynk & Co 03.

Fellow Cyan Racing contender Thed Björk, however, is now officially out of the title fight, having suffered a difficult race that featured a midway pit stop for a change to slick tyres. Björk finished only 27th.

Esteban Guerrieri did well to finish fourth for Honda, aided by stable-mates Néstor Girolami – who initially helped facilitate Guerrieri’s rise from ninth on the grid but later slipped back on fading tyres – and wild card João Paulo de Oliveira.

De Oliveira acted as rear-gunner for Guerrieri when Muller closed in towards the end, ensuring Honda’s sole title contender had a smooth run to P4. De Oliveira took fifth on his WTCR debut, and set the fastest lap of the race for good measure in an inspired showing.

Thanks to his fifth win of the season, Michelisz – who has now won races at 50 % of the tracks on this year’s calendar – extends his lead over Guerrieri to 27 points, with third-placed Muller another eight points adrift.

Race 2, the penultimate encounter of the 2019 season, starts at 18:15 local Malaysian time / 11:15 CET.