One of the most important fights of the 2024 season came just at the half-way mark, on 21 July in Interlagos’ Race 1, between eventual champion Norbert Michelisz and Ma Qing Hua.
At a weekend where the Hyundai Elantra seemed to be struggling due the elevation changes of the Brazilian circuit, combined with Michelisz’s well-earned compensation weight after his strong results at Mid-Ohio, the Hungarian just managed to scrape into the top ten in qualifying and secure what would be a significant pole position for the reversed grid second race.
Michelisz was able to cut across the nose of Ma’s the ballast-free Lynk & Co at the start and hold the lead into T1. On the opening lap, Michelisz’s chief title rival Yann Ehrlacher ran into trouble as he was involved in a three-car collision with Néstor Girolami, and leading Brazilian racer Raphael Reis.
At the end of the lap, Ma attacked Michelisz for the lead and looked set to take point, diving around the inside of T1, but Michelisz held off braking until the last possible moment and was able to keep the position.
Despite Ma’s car clearly showing more pace, Michelisz was able to position his Elantra perfectly at the critical overtaking opportunity into the first corner after the main straight on every consecutive lap. Michelisz’s strategy was to make sure he covered the inside, forcing Ma to try around the outside - even though Ma was desperately trying to fit his car down the inside as he came onto the straight.
Eventually Ma’s challenge faded away, and the Chinese driver handed second position to teammate and title contender Thed Björk with five minutes to spare, freeing up Michelisz to take his last of two victories in the 2024 season, helping him to extend his points lead in thechampionship.
Re-live the race on the official TCR TV YouTube channel here.
Picture: TCR South America
