Teams’ title priority say KCMG duo Tassi and Files after front-row lockout

KCMG’s Attila Tassi says he and team-mate Josh Files’ sole focus will be on securing the teams’ championship title after the pair locked out the front row of the grid for the penultimate race of the TCR Europe series at Barcelona.

Second practice pace-setter Tassi produced a last-ditch effort to usurp Files for pole with a lap of 1:53.861, with the pair bagging five and four points respectively to move the team in front of Target Competition in the standings.

Tassi told TouringCarTimes: “From Hungary onwards, we [Tassi and Josh Files] decided mainly to focus on the teams’ championship and the aim is the same today as well.

“We’ll see how the start goes; I don’t think we will fight so hard – maybe if we have clean air or something but we will see. We haven’t talked about it yet.”

Hungarian Tassi says he could have gone even faster than his eventual pole time on his first flying lap had it not been for a mysterious braking issue which caused the rear brakes to lock up.

“There were some strange things, my rear wheels were locking really hard and all my brake balance was on the front, so I didn’t understand why that was happening. But I tried to manage it and finally on the last lap it worked out,” said Tassi.

“It’s fantastic to be on pole position. From the beginning of the weekend we’ve had a good feeling with the car, a good balance and we tried to improve each time we went out. Yesterday we did a qualifying simulation which also went well, because I finished top of FP2. I tried to do the same or even better in my driving today in qualifying.”

Despite missing out on a perfect lap in his own Honda Civic Type R FK8, Tassi’s KCMG team-mate Files described his car as “mega” en route to second on the grid.

“The car was mega, we made some small adjustments in the session and it’s paid off. We’ve got there on one-lap performance and it was great to have Attila there as well,” Files.

“He’s been super fast all weekend so putting him behind me for that second tyre run was obviously the right call. We’ve got both cars on the front row and that’s a mega job from everybody at KCMG, it’s just a shame I couldn’t put my sectors together because I saw the [ideal] time and it’s a 1:53.6!”