Josh Files wins frenetic second race at Zandvoort

Josh Files won the second TCR Europe Touring Car Series race at Zandvoort, the first win for the KCMG Honda squad in the championship, while Team WRT Audi’s Jaap van Lagen charged through the field from ninth to second.

Danny Kroes started from pole in the PCR Sport Cupra TCR, but fell behind the Honda Civic TCR of Jens Reno Møller at the start, while Josh Files launched from fourth to second at the first corner.

Files then launched into the lead at Schievlak with Kroes following him through to second, and that’s where the battle for the lead ended as Files began to pull away from the chasing pack.

The race hardly settled down however, with the Target Hyundai of Kris Richard moving up to fourth ahead of the rival M1RA Hyundai of Daniel Nagy on the opening lap.

A lap later, and Richard was up to third at the expense of Møller, while van Lagen was carving through the field and was up to fifth at the end of lap two, passing Nagy’s Hyundai.

Van Lagen the picked off Møller a lap later, while there was drama to follow as Attila Tassi made a lunge down the inside of rival Hungarian Daniel Nagy at Turn 1 on lap four, with the two making contact. A unsettled Nagy then lost a few spots, before making side-by-side contact with Stian Paulsen’s Cupra, with the Norwegian slamming into the wall and into retirement.

The car was recovered under yellow flags, with the race continuing, with Van Lagen blasting around the outside of Richard’s Hyundai for third on lap six.

The next target for van Lagen was countryman Danny Kroes, with the move made on lap eight despite a strong defence from the PCR Cupra driver.

Tassi was still on the move, passing Richard’s Hyundai on lap nine and quickly closed on Kroes’ Cupra, with the closest battle of the race following, with Kroes and Tassi going at it lap after lap for the final podium spot.

Tassi made a lunge on the final lap and took third from Kroes as the Dutchman lost the rear of the car at Schievlak, but Kroes battled back down the inside and pushed Tassi wide on the exit of the next corner to keep his podium position.

Files won the race by 4.2 seconds over van Lagen, with Kroes completing the podium.

Dusan Borkovic failed to finish the race due to a technical issue, which means Mikel Azcona’s sixth place is enough to move the Spaniard into the joint-lead of the championship, with Files 16 points back.

The next round of the championship is at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on June 18th.