Mike Halder says team championship title for KCMG the “most important”

KCMG’s Mike Halder has hailed a “perfect” end to his racing season this year after securing his maiden TCR Europe series victory in the second race at Barcelona.

The TCR Germany series front-runner made a lightning start from second on the grid to leapfrog pole-sitter Peter Terting in the Target Competition Hyundai i30 N TCR and lead every lap.

Halder’s victory combined with a fifth place finish for team-mate Josh Files meant that KCMG took the teams’ championship title, triumphing over Target.

“For us to win the team’s championship, that is the most important and we have done it. We’re very proud,” an elated Halder told TouringCarTimes.

“I had a very good start and got the lead into the first turn. I managed to keep it and to win the last race of my season is perfect. I won the last race of TCR Germany as well so I can go into the winter break happy.”

Halder’s weekend began inconspicuously after only managing two laps in second practice due to a water leak caused by a stone piercing the radiator on his Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR.

Despite this, Halder made it into Q2 on Saturday, lining up ninth for Race 1 and second for the partially reversed-grid second race.

“Thanks very much to everyone who gave me the chance to race here this weekend and be part of this nice team. Friday was not the best day for me as we missed a lot of laps with the radiator issues, we got a stone through it and got a water leak,” said Halder.

The German headed the M1RA Hyundai i30 N TCR of Dániel Nagy by just under half a second by the finish, with Halder crediting his safety car restart following first lap contact involving multiple drivers as key to securing the win.

“I saw them in my mirrors and knew I had a bit of a gap. I braked on the best line so that I had a good exit for the other turns. After that, I had a good margin and then the safety car came out. I managed to make a good restart, so I’m very proud,” said Halder.

Halder’s KCMG team-mate Files also praise the commitment to the teams’ championship, something which had been decided as a priority since the Budapest round in July.

“The plan was to fight with Borkovic and pass him. The stuff happened behind me when I got passed and I didn’t see it,” Files told TouringCarTimes.

“I had a small pace advantage over Peter in front but I didn’t want to jeopardise the team’s result and I knew where I was, was enough to secure the title. The Teams’ championship is what we were fighting for and we’ve won that and I’m over the moon with it. The guys have worked really hard for this.”