Josh Files happy with weekend, not happy with Engstler after Race 2

Josh Files leaves the second weekend of the TCR Europe Touring Car Series with the lead of the drivers’ standings, five points clear of JSB Competition driver Julien Briché, but the Briton says he wasn’t happy with his duel with Luca Engstler in the race.

Files started from tenth on the grid in his Target Competition Hyundai, and was soon batting Engstler’s M1RA Hyundai for position, with the two occasionally swapping places, but Engstler managed to keep ahead to finish the race seventh.

“It’s hard to get past a car which is always going off track limits,” said Files to TouringCarTimes.

“I was also ahead of him at the safety car board, and he passed me there so we need to have a look at that, so I’m not happy to be honest. He didn’t’ have the pace, I did, but running behind him I eventually lost the brakes.

“I doubt we’d have made much more ground, but we could have caught the leading pack. Overall, I’m happy, and it’s been a really good weekend at a track where we didn’t expect to be this fast”, he added.

Files now leads the standings by five points over Briché, who took his second win from four races, both from the reversed grid.

“It’s early doors. Briché is doing the reversed grid stuff very well, so maybe it’s a philosophy going forward, but we’ll see. Spa will be tricky for us, but we’ll be fighting.”