Photo: TCR Europe

Attila Tassi “relieved” to end year-long win drought in Race 2

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Assen Race 2 winner Attila Tassi has hailed his Assen weekend as “the best I’ve had this season” after claiming his first TCR win in over a year at the Dutch circuit.

The KCMG Honda Civic TCR driver started fifth on the grid but made his way into the lead with a cut-back move on Mikel Azcona at the end of the opening lap.

The Hungarian then built a healthy margin to comfortably take victory from Azcona by just over a second.

It is Tassi’s first victory in a TCR car since he claimed a double win in the International Series last year at the Hungaroring, which has come as a relief to the 19-year-old.

“This weekend is the best I’ve had so far in this championship. It’s been more than a year since my last win, and I’ve missed this feeling a lot,” Tassi told TouringCarTimes.

“I planned a good start which I made and a good first lap which I also made. After the first corner I was third, but buy the end of the lap I was P1.

“I then just kept my head down and it worked out well so I’m very happy for the team as well.

Key to Tassi’s victory lay in the start, as he managed to leapfrog the slow-starting JSB Compétition Peugeot 308TCR of Julien Briché and Target Competition’s Dusan Borkovic into the first corner.

He then snuck past pole-sitter Stian Paulsen’s Cupra before perfecting a canny overtake on Azcona for the lead.

“I got past Azcona at turn ten and went to the outside. The at the last minute I went back to the inside and cut back on exit. He didn’t defend too hard because he wanted to work with me to break clear of the rest.

Tassi struggled in the opening race, having qualified sixth on the grid, some eight-tenths of KCMG team-mate Josh Files.

The teenager also battled understeer throughout the race, which limited his progress to fifth behind Stefano Comini.

Out front in Race 2, Tassi was relieved to get the break at the start before building a margin too large for the quicker Hyundais to bridge.

“I was quite lucky that the Hyundais couldn’t come up the order faster,” Tassi said.

“The start was key to build the gap. It wasn’t as easy though because I had to brake on the straight before the first corner, but I placed my car in the right area and it worked out.”