First victory for Michelisz after a giant pile-up

Norbert Michelisz finally broke his duck in WTCR, claiming his first victory in Race 3 at the Slovakia Ring after a giant pile-up on the first lap decimated the field.
At the start Michelisz made good use of the pole and led from Aurélien Comte and Yvan Muller; the latter overtook Comte for second, while Frédéric Vervisch moved up to fourth on the outside line.
During the first lap there was a giant pile up that was caused by Gabriele Tarquini who hit Benjamin Lessennes and triggered a chain reaction that involved about ten cars. The safety car was deployed and when the race resumed on lap 5, nine drivers were missing: Tarquini, Vernay, Shedden, Bennani, Nagy, Lessennes, Filippi, Guerrieri and Berthon.
Muller was also eliminated, as he lost a front wheel and went straight into the gravel just before the green flag.
Michelisz led from Comte, Vervisch, Fabrizio Giovanardi, Thed Björk, Kevin Ceccon, Tom Coronel, Petr Fulín and Zsolt Dávid Szabó.
The BRC Racing driver pulled away towards his first victory in WTCR, Comte was safe in second position, while there was a tough fight for third. No holds barred, Björk overtook Giovanardi for fourth on lap 9 after a couple of tough contacts. Giovanardi was also hit by Fulín and dropped behind the Czech and his own teammate Ceccon.
On lap 10, Yann Ehrlacher pitted after a collision with Rob Huff that cost the Briton a drive through.
Björk proceeded to attack Vervish who put in a great defensive drive, resisted to the Swede’s blows and beat him on the line by 39 thousandths of a second to finish on the podium. Fulín was classified fifth ahead of a brilliant Ceccon, Giovanardi, Coronel and Pepe Oriola who overtook Szabó on the last lap for ninth.
Despite being out of the race, Tarquini and Muller remained first and second in the standigs with 202 and 199 points respectively, but Michelisz moved up to third, 26 points behind the leader and five clear of Ehrlacher.
WTCR’s next event will be a Ningbo, China on September 29/30.