Josh Files really happy with pace, as he soars into the points lead

Josh Files took his first win of the 2019 season at Hockenheim, leading from lights-to-flag and had an uneventful race, unlike most of the field behind him, most notably his team-mates, and now leads by 21 points over Gilles Magnus in the standings.

Files built up a strong lead over Luca Engstler’s M1RA Hyundai during the early stages, before his lead was evaporated after a late-race safety car when his Target Competition team-mate Mat’o Homola went off at the Sachs Kurve with a puncture.

When the race resumed, Files again built up a lead of 2.5 seconds over Engstler to take the win, and with Magnus down in eighth, the Briton has moved into a clear lead of the standings.

“I’m very happy with that race,” said Files to TouringCarTimes.

“I made a reasonable start I guess. I knew if I could get out of the hairpin in the lead then I could get my head down around the second half of the track and get away.

“Target have done an amazing job with the set-up, and I’m honestly surprised that we’re this strong given the compensation weight that we’ve got, and our top-speed deficit.”

Files will start Race 2 tomorrow from tenth on the grid, which he says is unlikely to go so well.

“You just can’t make plans on this grid. (Homola and Borkovic) were starting around where I’m starting tomorrow, and they’ve got two destroyed cars. You can’t plan for it, you just have to get your head down and start attacking from the word go.

“Winning’s not going to happen tomorrow unless it rains, but as it’s set to be bone dry, it’s a matter of doing the best we can.”