WTCR Bahrain: Michelisz wins race 2 as Azcona closes in on title

Michelisz survived a chaotic first lap to chase Esteban Guerrieri, who led out of Turn 1 after a strong start from the second row. The Hyundai was clearly quicker than the Munnich Motorsport Honda, which was carrying 40kg of compensation weight, and on lap five Michelisz sliced inside Guerrieri at Turn 1 to take what would be his first win of the season.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Michelisz. “I was a bit lucky after the start, there was some carnage. I managed to overtake some people there and I was just trying to find the right place to attack Esteban.

“My car was just brilliant again today, all weekend it was, so big credit to the team. Sometimes it looks easy from the outside but it was not easy today. Although it was a bit easier because of the equipment I had!

“It’s not been an easy season, but now I’m getting things together.”

“Congrats to Norbi, he did a very good job,” said Guerrieri. “To the Hyundai team as well, very good weekend. To my team also, we did all we could. Pretty happy.

"Obviously disappointed to lose the lead, but they had a better pace this weekend. He surprised me with a very good move, I was not very confident in the brakes. It’s been a while since I had a podium.”

Nicky Catsburg scored a podium third in his Hyundai, on his return to the WTCR.

“Man, it’s so hot in these cars,” he said. “Every time I come back in a WTCR car I realise it’s like a sauna in there. Very hot but super-happy to have a podium on my Wildcard event, so let’s hope for even better in Jeddah.”

Norbert Michelisz, BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N TCR, Esteban Guerrieri, ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R TCR

Photo by: WTCR

Azcona avoided trouble on lap one to initially run in sixth, passed title rival Nestor Girolami and then tracked Nathanael Berthon. The Frenchman had picked up a five-second penalty amid the chaos, so Azcona didn’t need to pass the Audi to secure his fourth place. Tom Coronel finished sixth behind his team-mate Berthon.

Front row starters Franco Girolami and Mehdi Bennani finished seventh and eighth after good recoveries from disastrous first laps.

Pole position starter Bennani was second into Turn 4 when Comtoyou team-mate Gilles Magnus barged into him under braking. Meanwhile, Franco Girolami – younger brother of Nestor – was tapped into a spin by the Engstler Honda of Attila Tassi.

As for Nestor Girolami, he struggled for pace and was left battling Bennani in the closing stages. He put up a spirited defence, but couldn’t stop the Audi powering past out of Turn 10 on the last lap.

Girolami’s ninth place leaves him 60 points down on Azcona with only 65 left on the table ahead of the Jeddah finale.

WTCR Bahrain race 2 results - 13 laps

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Time	Gap
1	Norbert Michelisz	Hyundai	-
2	Esteban Guerrieri	Honda	1.046	1.046
3	Nick Catsburg	Hyundai	3.677	3.677
4	Mikel Azcona	Hyundai	7.811	7.811
5	Nathanael Berthon		12.637	12.637
6	Tom Coronel		13.958	13.958
7	Franco Girolami		15.776	15.776
8	Mehdi Bennani		24.353	24.353
9	Nestor Girolami	Honda	24.739	24.739
10	Daniel Nagy	CUPRA	24.975	24.975
11	Bence Boldizs	CUPRA	25.616	25.616
12	Tiago Monteiro	Honda	27.266	27.266
13	Viktor Davidovski		2 laps
14	Attila Tassi	Honda	8 laps
15	Gilles Magnus		13 laps
View full results