Photo: TCR Europe

Kris Richard says better start needed to repeat podium in Race 2

Target Competition’s Kris Richard says he needs a better start in Sunday’s second TCR Europe series race at Assen if he is to repeat his podium finish in the opening race of the weekend.

Richard took his Hyundai i30 N TCR to third place behind race winner Dániel Nagy and Jean-Karl Vernay after pulling off a forceful overtake on Josh Files early on.

Richard admitted he could have made more progress as the lights went out had it not been for a longer-than-expected delay forcing him to dip the clutch prior to launching off the line.

“I got a decent start, but it could have been a little bit better,” Richard told TouringCarTimes.

“I overheated the clutch a bit and lost some of the RPM, which meant I needed to dip the clutch again. The red lights were on for a long time so I just mistimed it really.

“I struggled a little bit with my pace early but the car was very consistent and it was good to control, so I am quite happy with this podium.”

Richard was embroiled in a frenetic three-way battle for the final podium position with the two KCMG Honda Civic Type R FK8s of Files and Attila Tassi before tagging the back of Files’ car under braking for Strubben.

The resulting melee forced Files wide, dropping the Honda driver to fifth and allowing the Autodis by THX Racing Honda of Stefano Comini to leapfrog Tassi for fourth.

Richard said: “I caught up to the back of Files and he braked a little bit too late into turn five, I was on the left hand side and had a bit of contact. He ran wide and I got past him and then I went after Comini.”

“I spent a couple of laps behind Tassi before I was able to overtake him into turn five. He ran wide a bit and I managed to pull alongside.”

After a difficult start to the season at Paul Ricard, the result is Richard’s sixth consecutive points finish, leaving the Swiss driver searching for more success in Race 2.

“The most important thing for tomorrow is to collect points and try to have a better start than I did today,” Richard added.

“I will focus on catching the guys in front and the podium is the goal. We will see what the race circumstances will be like, what will happen at the start, anything is possible.”