C1 – Michelisz in control in the rain, Panis second in Sepang

La tension fut à son comble à Sepang (Malaisie) à l’occasion de la Course 1 de la Coupe du monde des voitures de tourisme (WTCR), dimanche 15 décembre. La pluie, tombée durant la mise en grille, a rebattu les cartes, mais pas suffisamment pour empêcher une cinquième victoire de Norbert Michelisz (Hyundai) In 2019.

Starting from pole, “Norbi” kept his calm while the Race Direction delayed the start to let the engineers change the tire strategies at the last minute. Each pilot had his own little mess: full slicks, full rain, or a mixture, rain at the rear, slicks at the front.

In this little game, the competitors in full rain lost big. For example, Mikel Azcona (Cupra), who started third, only finished 17th! The Spanish rookie loses an opportunity to appear in the top 5 of the final ranking.

At the front, Norbert Michelisz and Aurelien Panis (Cupra) have mixed the gums. It was the right tactic! Aurélien Panis, with this second place, signs his best performance in WTCR. 

As for the Hungarian, leader of the championship, he increases his lead to 27 and 35 points, respectively over Esteban Guerrieri (Honda, 4th) and Yvan Muller (Lynk&Co, 6th), two events from the end. The Argentinian and especially the Frenchman completed an offensive race, with 5 and… 10 positions gained by force of arms, on the track. 

A special mention goes to Joao Paulo Oliveira (Honda). The Brazilian, who came to WTCR as a freelancer for the KCMG team, finished fifth on four slick tires on his Civic Type-R.

Among the other French entrants, Jean-Karl Vernay (Audi) is 10th, and Yann Ehrlacher (Lynk&Co) 14th).

Race 2 at Sepang will take place at 11:15 a.m. French time.

WTCR Sepang 2019 standings – Race 1: