World Touring: Michelisz takes victory on home soil

Privateer Norbert Michelisz claimed the first Honda World Touring Car Championship race victory of 2015 with a lights-to-flag victory in front of his home crowd at the Hungaroring.

Michelisz parlayed his reverse-grid pole position into a seemingly effortless lead at the race start as his rivals squabbled behind.

Independent entries completed the podium as ROAL Chevrolet team-mates Tom Coronel and Tom Chilton finished second and third. In spite of not having the latest aero and engine package, Coronel passed Chilton cleanly at Turn 1 and held on tenaciously for the duration.

Behind, Rob Huff was swallowed up in the Citroen tide from fourth on the grid, and then became collateral damage as Sebastien Loeb swerved across the track, forcing Ma Qing Hua and Yvan Muller into evasive action and tapping Jose Maria Lopez into a tankslapper. Huff's right-rear wheel was partially torn off and he cruised back to the pits to retire.

Tiago Monteiro was the first of the works Honda drivers home, finishing 0.861s behind Chilton in fourth place. Loeb, Lopez and Muller were next through, followed by race-one podium finisher Hugo Valente and Ma.

Craft-Bamboo's Gregoire Demoustier completed the top 10 of what became a processional outing after the first-lap fracas.

RESULTS

Originally on Autosport.com