Team result paramount for double-podium finisher Josh Files

Josh Files finished twice on the podium at Monza, Italy, despite the layout not playing in favour of his Honda Civic TCR in theory. The Brit did not expect such a good result in Italy.

“Honestly I didn’t expect it (the double podium), because we hit the limiter for so long on the straight, so I though we would struggle more,” said the KCMG driver to TouringCarTimes. “The VAG cars have more power and they definitely have a straight line speed advantage, but the Honda chassis made up for it brilliantly. I’ve been driving really well this weekend, towing most of the Honda cars, which helped us win ‘in numbers’ as we were all up there in qualifying. Today was a great example of me and Attila working really well together and bringing a double podium home for Honda.”

Files believes his good performances in the second free practice session were enough to motivate all the Honda squad, particularly team-mate Attila Tassi, who took full advantage of the Brit’s data to improve his driving and his setup.

“(Team-mate) Attila (Tassi) was struggling in free practice, and although I missed one session when I was fastest in free practice 2 it kind of opened everyone’s eyes, there were no excuses, the Honda was capable of being fast. My data and video helped Attila, I towed him in qualifying and it became a perfect team result.”

As for their chances at the season finale in Barcelona, Files believes the teams’ title is an achievable target for KCMG.

“There’s only one long straight in Barcelona, and there are enough corners to make up for it. I think we’ll have a good chance there, I think we already established in Assen we would push for the teams’ championship as the drivers’ title was always going to be hard. This weekend we closed the gap massively on Target Competition and we will try to win the championship in Barcelona, although it won’t be easy.”