Norbert Michelisz reclaims points lead with Bathurst Race 2 win

Norbert Michelisz has reclaimed the TCR World Tour points lead after winning the second race at the Mount Panorama Circuit from the reversed grid pole position.

The BRC Hyundai driver started from pole but got a slow start, losing the lead to GRM Peugeot driver Aaron Cameron and Comtoyou Racing’s Frédérich Vervisch.

Disaster struck TCR Australia leader Bailey Sweeny who slowed on the first lap and had to pit twice due to a loose intercooler hose on his Hyundai i30 N TCR, meaning zero points and a lost points lead to team-mate Josh Buchan.

Hyundai driver Michelisz made the move for second place on Vervisch on the second lap and then the lead on Cameron at The Chase a lap later.

Audi driver Vervisch then passed Cameron on lap five.

A driveshaft broke for Melbourne Performance Centre driver Will Brown on lap six, stopping his Audi to retire from the race.

As the race neared its end, Vervisch slowed down. This saw Cameron up into second place, Lynk & Co driver Thed Björk into third and Comtoyou team-mate Rob Huff into fourth.

The final lap of the race saw a late move by Wall Racing Honda driver Néstor Girolami on Yann Ehrlacher into The CHase to snatch sixth place with some contact between the two.

Michelisz won the race by 2.4 seconds ahead of Cameron and close to four seconds ahead of Björk.

Huff crossed the line in fourth ahead of team-mate Vervisch, Girolami and Ehrlacher.

Race 1 winner Santiago Urrutia finished eighth while Tony D’Alberto and Mikel Azcona rounded off the top ten.

Michelisz heads the TCR World Tour standings on 365 points, three more than Huff and 15 more than Ehrlacher.

Buchan, who finished eleventh, heads the TCR Australia points ahead of the last race of the season later today on 767 points, with HMO Hyundai team-mate Sweeney second on 748 and Cameron third on 743.

The final race of the weekend at Bathurst starts at 16:10 local time/06:10 CET.