Norbert Michelisz: A True Hungarian Hero

The Driver Spotlight Series returns to Motorsport Radio and is one of many feature series that the site will be creating over the next few months.

This series will look at the best names in motorsport at the moment across a range of countries. From single seaters, to rallying and GTs to touring cars. Who are the stars in the motorsport world right now?

In 2018, we looked at the best of Britain, France, Japan, America, Spain, Australia and Sweden.

• Lewis Hamilton: Britain’s Greatest Ever Racing Driver
• Sebastien Loeb: The French Rally King
• Kamui Kobayashi: Fearless and Underrated
• Jimmie Johnson: NASCAR’s Greatest Racing Driver, America’s Best
• Fernando Alonso: Too big for his own boots?
• Jamie Whincup: The Australian Michael Schumacher
• Johan Kristoffersson: The Modern day Super Swede

Some drivers have made their mark in their respective discipline since the end of 2018, whilst some veterans continue to shine. The Driver Spotlight Series will give you everything you need to know about them, what makes them so special and why you need to watch out for them over the next few years.

First up in the series’ return is a Hungarian touring car hero.

Norbert Michelisz is a fan favourite in the touring car world and last year he became champion of the World Touring Car Cup. A superstar in Hungary and a long overdue title after years of not quite having enough to become world champion.

In his early career he won Suzuki Swift and Renault Clio Cup Hungarian titles before joining the World Touring car scene. His first full season was in 2010 for SEAT. Considering it was his rookie year, it was an impressive debut season, featuring a podium in Japan, in a category that often takes a long time to adjust to.

Finding His Feet

From the offset, Michelisz was consistent and he even won a race at the season finale in Macau. ‘Norbi’ as he is known quickly had the support of a nation on his shoulders and the WTCC found this out when the paddock visited the Hungaroring for the first time. The air horns were blowing, fans were screaming and the atmosphere was like a football match. Since 2011, Hungary is an annual feature of the calendar and it is all thanks to Michelisz.

Remarkably, Michelisz scored a second place in the opening Hungaroring round. Fast forward 12 months and Michelisz won on home soil to the delight of the home crowd who packed the grandstands. Back to back podiums in USA was enough to secure the Independents’ Championship with Zengo Motorsport despite poor results after the North American races.

From BMW to Honda, Zengo Motorsport switched cars which helped Michelisz find more consistency and six podiums in 2013. However, across 2013 and 2014, Michelisz won just once. Citroen had jointed the sport in 2014 and were utterly dominant with their trio of drivers: Jose Maria Lopez, Yvan Muller and Sebastien Loeb.

Despite being in a privateer team, Michelisz was able to beat the manufacturer Honda drivers of Tiago Monteiro and Gabriele Tarquini to be best of the rest outside of the Citroen drivers.

He won his home race for the second time in 2015 but it was a year of frustration. Michelisz was one of two drivers to win races in a non-Citroen car and was the only driver to take a pole position who was not called Lopez, Muller or Loeb.

Honda moved from a two car to a three car manufacturer effort and Michelisz was snapped up after six seasons of Zengo backing.

Honda and Heartbreak

Straight away, Honda were threatening and Michelisz was a championship contender after the opening rounds. But, there was disaster when all the Honda cars were disqualified from the races in Marrakesh mid-season due to floor irregularities. Honda had scored a 1-2-3 in one of the races and it completely derailed any hopes of any of the Honda drivers, including Michelisz to beat Lopez and Citroen.

It hurt morale and any momentum that Honda had. Michelisz did win Honda’s home race in Japan but was beaten by teammate Monteiro after a controversial finish to the season when Muller made things very easy for Monteiro which gave the Portuguese driver third place in the championship by a solitary point. Michelisz was not happy with Muller.

Citroen pulled put of the WTCC in 2017 which left the championship wide open. Michelisz was one of the favourites going into the season but it was a tough start to the season after two retirements in the first five races and just one podium. Teammate Monteiro had a great opening few rounds and looked like the driver to beat.

Michelisz did not give up and picked up crucial victories in Portugal and Argentina and was proving to be the fastest driver on the grid. Disaster struck during the summer break when championship leader Monteiro suffered a huge accident during testing in Spain, which put him out of racing for over a year.

For Michelisz, he was the team’s new leader. More bad luck struck for Honda after they were excluded from the whole of the WTCC Race of China because the fuel injectors were not complaint with technical regulations. Michelisz dropped to fourth and 32.5 points behind championship leader Thed Bjork with six races remaining.

Good results, including another win in Japan put Michelisz in prime position to challenge Bjork for the title. Volvo even drafted in Yvan Muller out of retirement to support Bjork’s title bid.

Michelisz was looking good but a problem in qualifying meant he started towards the back on a track which was very difficult to overtake on. Hungarian hearts sank and Michelisz finished runner-up after a season of so much bad luck, most of it not his fault. He should have been champion and it felt like he was never going to achieve his dreams.

The Hyundai Years

A new era was born, the WTCC finished and the a new series called the World Touring Car Cup begins. Norbi left Honda and joined Hyundai for the inaugural WTCR season alongside Tarquini.

It was not to be his year as Michelisz found himself in too many incidents and he did not drive with the same smoothness and calmness that he was able to do the year before. He did help out teammate Tarquini throughout the year which ended with the former WTCC, ETCC and BTCC champion becoming the new WTCR champion at 56-years-old.

The WTCR series in 2019 was full of touring car talent young and old with a capacity grid of 32 that did battle over 30 races. There were 12 different winners in a dramatic season.

For a second season running, it was not a good start to the year but a podium in the third race at the Hungaroring kickstarted his season. Michelisz would go on to take at least one podium at every event and he was set for a fierce championship battle between himself, Esteban Guerrieri and Yvan Muller.

It was a rollercoaster ride to say the least with all three suffering their fair share of good and bad fortune. Muller was mounting a late championship campaign but was left with too much to do going into the season finale in Malaysia.

The finale was just as incredible. Michelisz did everything he could to start the weekend on the right foot, by taking pole position for two of the races, showing he brings his best to the table when the pressure is really on.

He won the opening race of the finale but Guerrieri responded with a win in the second race. Michelisz had a 10 point lead as the two championship protagonists started together on the front row. The racing was incredible with the lead changing multiple times and Michelisz and Guerrieri were right in the thick of the action, things could easily have gone wrong for either of them.

Inevitably it did as Guerrieri’s car lost power and he tumbled down the order handing the title to Michelisz after a fantastic final race. That race alone was a fairytale but so has the last 15 years for Norbert Michelisz.

So often he has punched above his weight and he has brought a nation together. Michelisz has had an excellent career and we hope there is yet more to come.

It is just a shame we cannot call Norbi a world champion because the WTCR no longer has world championship status. That does not matter though, because Michelisz was finally able to accomplish his dream and take a sea of fans along his journey to the top. Looking back I am sure he’ll have inspired many Hungarians to get into motor racing to become the next Norbert Michelisz.