Sepang WTCR: Michelisz crowned champion in dramatic finale

Hyundai driver Norbert Michelisz sealed the World Touring Car Cup title in the final race of the season at Sepang after rival Esteban Guerrieri dropped back with overheating issues.

Michelisz finished the race – won by double World Rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson from 22nd on the grid – in fifth position, having eased off when Guerrieri dropped back after his Honda Civic Type R ingested grass while he defended the lead.

Guerrieri had been in position to claim the title at that point, though, as pole-sitter Michelisz had slipped to fourth.

The title rivals matched each other off the line and ran side-by-side into the first corner, but Guerrieri braked later than his rival to snatch the lead at Turn 1.

Mikel Azcona also drove around the outside of Michelisz between Turns 1 and 2 to claim second, though that order would still have given Michelisz the title by a point.

The Hungarian appeared tentative on the opening lap, though, and ceded third to Kristoffersson when the Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI driver got a better exit off the Turn 11 right-hander.

Guerrieri survived a robust attack from Azcona through Turns 1, 2 and 3 at the start of lap two, but held the position into Turn 4 as the safety car was deployed so Augusto Farfus’s Hyundai i30 N could be recovered from the gravel trap.

It took another five laps for the race to be restarted, with Michelisz immediately going on the attack in an attempt to unseat Kristoffersson and reclaim the third place he needed to guarantee the title.

Though that did not come off, the top four bunched up as Guerrieri struggled to contain the pack behind him.

Things came to a head out of Turn 11, when Azcona got a better exit than the leader. As he went to nose his Cupra inside Guerrieri on the approach to the Turn 12 left-hander, Guerrieri moved across to close the door – with Azcona hitting the Argentinian as a result.

This sent Guerrieri skating along the grass, though he was able to keep his Honda on the road and in the lead, briefly, as the four leaders approached the penultimate corner side-by-side.

But Azcona got ahead out of the corner, with Kristoffersson launching an attack into the final corner – eventually making the position his into Turn 4 on the following lap.

That made Michelisz’s task far simpler, though he continued to hound Guerrieri as the Honda began to develop an issue.

Michelisz tapped his rival into Turn 11, and later made a pass stick, to move into third, with Guerrieri then forfeiting a handful of positions on the run to the final corner.

Guerrieri was told to “just keep going, we’re hoping for some miracle”, but visited the pits three times during a second safety-car period to have grass removed from his splitter. He eventually finished 22nd, having set the fastest lap at the end of the race.

Safe in the knowledge Guerrieri was out of contention, Michelisz handed positions to Kevin Ceccon (Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce) and the Comtoyou Audi RS3 LMS of Frederic Vervisch in the middle of the race, and cruised to a comfortable fifth ahead of teammate Gabriele Tarquini to seal the title by 21 points.

His success means BRC has run the winning driver to the title for a second year in a row, following Tarquini’s success last year. 

While the title fight fizzled out, the battle for the race win ensured there was still an entertaining end to the race.

Azcona was still in the lead after the second safety car, but had put up a strong defence to keep Kristoffersson at bay.

After an entertaining tussle between the top three – now featuring Ceccon – Kristoffersson made his race-winning move around the outside of Azcona at the final corner with four laps remaining.

The lead trio continued to squabble for the remainder of the race, though would ultimately stay in formation as Volkswagen ended its works presence in WTCR with a victory.

Vervisch was a lonely fourth, while behind Michelisz and Tarquini the top 10 was completed by Guerrieri’s Munnich Motorsport team-mate Nestor Girolami, Tiago Monteiro (KCMG Honda), Cyan Racing’s Thed Bjork and the second Sebastien Loeb Racing VW of Benjamin Leuchter.

The fourth BRC Racing Hyundai of Nicky Catsburg was disqualified from starting the race following his collision with Yvan Muller in race two.

Race results

Cla	#	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap
1	14	Johan Kristoffersson	Volkswagen	14	39’02.972
2	96	Mikel Azcona	CUPRA	14	39’04.998	2.026
3	31	Kevin Ceccon	Alfa Romeo	14	39’05.154	2.182
4	22	Frederic Vervisch	Audi	14	39’07.268	4.296
5	5	Norbert Michelisz	Hyundai	14	39’12.269	9.297
6	1	Gabriele Tarquini	Hyundai	14	39’12.877	9.905
7	29	Nestor Girolami	Honda	14	39’16.122	13.150
8	18	Tiago Monteiro	Honda	14	39’17.709	14.737
9	11	Thed Björk	Lynk & Co	14	39’20.280	17.308
10	33	Benjamin Leuchter	Volkswagen	14	39’20.779	17.807
11	12	Rob Huff	Volkswagen	14	39’22.251	19.279
12	69	Jean-Karl Vernay	Audi	14	39’24.345	21.373
13	100	Yvan Muller	Lynk & Co	14	39’27.451	24.479
14	111	Andy Priaulx	Lynk & Co	14	39’28.748	25.776
15	37	Daniel Haglof	CUPRA	14	39’29.390	26.418
16	15	Hafizh Syahrin	Hyundai	14	39’39.539	36.567
17	68	Yann Ehrlacher	Lynk & Co	14	39’39.799	36.827
18	25	Mehdi Bennani	Volkswagen	14	39’40.659	37.687
19	27	Mitchell Cheah	Hyundai	14	39’43.195	40.223
20	10	Niels Langeveld	Audi	14	39’46.143	43.171
21	65	Douglas Khoo Koh Hui	CUPRA	14	39’59.219	56.247
22	86	Esteban Guerrieri	Honda	14	40’02.409	59.437
23	55	Ma Qing Hua	Alfa Romeo	14	40’53.617	1’50.645
	38	Joao Paulo de Oliveira		10	28’57.003	4 Laps
	52	Gordon Shedden	Audi	7	20’09.646	7 Laps
	50	Tom Coronel	CUPRA	5	14’59.272	9 Laps
	8	Augusto Farfus	Hyundai	0
	21	Aurelien Panis	CUPRA	0
	9	Attila Tassi	Honda	0
View full results

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