Norbert Michelisz won his third FIA world touring car title last year, his second consecutive Kumho FIA TCR World Tour crown, and says his 2024 trophy was the hardest to win.
The BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse driver won the 2019 title in Hyundai Motorsport’s i30 N, before a four-year dry spell, bouncing back when the newly reborn FIA TCR World Tour was launched in 2023, and he has won both titles in the new Elantra N TCR. The 40-year-old Hungarian, whose first world touring race was back in 2008, has had an incredible career so far, and reflected on his achievements from last season.
“I’m especially proud of last year’s title, as I had the feeling that in most of the races we did not have the most competitive car. We were very good overall, but I feel in 2019 and 2023, our car was the most competitive, while last year we were sometimes a bit behind the competition, and to win a championship with this kind of disadvantage, and with the format that we have, leading the championship up until the end for me was probably the most rewarding one. Though going back to 2019, winning my first title with the grid back then and the chaos in Sepang, does make it very difficult to choose. All of them have been special in a certain way.”
The Hyundai driver remarked that it was only at the mid-way point of the season, winning the second race from the reversed grid at Interlagos in front of his Lynk & Co Cyan Racing rivals Thed Björk and Ma Qing Hua, that his focus switched from race-by-race results, to chasing the title.
“We were cautious about expectations as the season started well, but the dynamics changed, and we realised we were missing a bit of speed. I think for me Interlagos was a turning point, especially Race 2, where I honestly didn’t expect to win the race due to the nature of the circuit and due to the ballast I was carrying. I said to myself just before the race the important thing was just to finish, but winning the race gave me a lot of confidence. If we managed to have this kind of result against all odds, I knew we could manage to win the title, and from that race on my approach was 100% focussed on the championship.”
The Italian-based BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse team expanded to three cars last year, with Michelisz and teammate Mikel Azcona joined by former Honda star Néstor Girolami, creating a team of three drivers with championship-winning potential, with Azcona having won his first title in 2022 in his first year with the team after moving across from CUPRA.
“2022 was a very tough year for me, because Mikel arrived and he won the championship, and I didn’t expect to not be involved in the championship fight. It was very difficult to digest and to know I had a teammate like Mikel with his incredible talent, and speed, and attitude, so I realised I needed to step up my game. To achieve this is never easy. 2023 was a make-or-break season, and I needed to prove I won the championship for a reason in 2019.
I’m very thankful for having a teammate like Mikel, as many times you have this kind of competition within a team and the relationship between drivers suffers, but we’ve always had clean fights and have a very supportive attitude towards each other, and I consider him as a friend, as well as someone I can learn from.
You need to understand as a racing driver you are never complete, and even with the experience I have, having the opportunity to race against him, and also to have Néstor as a team-mate who has incredible natural speed, at the end of the day always gives me the opportunity to improve. “
In years where as well as traditional routes to top level motorsport, sim racing has now become a genuine way of spotting young and exciting talent, Michelisz reflects on being one of the first sim racers to become a professional driver and world champion, and having inspired a generation of new young talent, especially in his native Hungary, to follow in his footsteps.
“It makes me very proud. I remember very clearly the days when I was sim racing at home and not really thinking about becoming a race car driver. And then to experience this journey, to have this success, and now to have many young people wanting to be me, or to go on the same road, is something you need to take as a very big gift from life. I think I’m in a very privileged position to be here. I know how many talented young sim racers in Hungary and all over the world there are and if they had the opportunity could do the same as me, so I really hope that this scene will be even more brought forward, as I believe many of these very successful online gamers, if they had the opportunity to drive a real race car, they will have great success.
But motorsport is very difficult, you need money to start a career, and you also need to be lucky, to meet the right people at the right time. The only advice I can give to people is trust in yourself and follow your instincts, and if it’s your destiny to become a race car driver, you will get there.”
Picture: WSC/Macau GP
