Norbert Michelisz was crowned the champion of the inaugural edition of the TCR World Tour, which came to an end this weekend in Macau. Eighth place in the second race after the victory in the first was enough for the conquest.
Naturally determined to be champion, Michelisz (BRC Hyundai N) made the most of the pole position in the first race, leading from start to finish to win for the second time on the streets of Macau. Nestor Girolami (MadPro Racing/Honda) ended up being his main pursuer and even finished pressuring the new champion, but ended 0.590s behind.
One of the few contenders for the title besides Michelisz was Robert Huff (Audi Sport Team Comtoyou), who had no arguments to go beyond third position – which, nevertheless, left the accounts open for the final race. Mikel Azcona (BRC Hyundai N) had a slight incident with the fifth-placed driver, Frédéric Vervisch (Audi Sport Team Comtoyou), but sealed fourth place.
On Sunday, in the second race, Vervisch started from fourth and, right after the start, reached second place. The decisive overtake on Santiago Urrutia (Cyan Racing Lynk & Co) happened at Mandarin Oriental Bend on the eighth lap. The Belgian then built a considerable advantage, crossing the finish line with a 3.714s lead over the Uruguayan.
Urrutia resisted a collision with Huff, who was in the fight for the title and ended up with damage that dropped him to last position – he finished 12th. Yann Ehrlacher (Cyan Racing Lynk & Co) was third, a result insufficient to prevent Michelisz from celebrating the title – despite the Hungarian’s eighth place, as he preferred to play it safe after Huff had to go through the pits following the previous incident.
