Josh Files hails Target Competition after “huge turnaround”

New TCR Europe series leader Josh Files has hailed the Target Competition team for performing what he labelled “a huge turnaround” following his Race 1 win at the Red Bull Ring.

Files took his second victory of the season with a composed performance in the Spielberg opener on Saturday, and was quick to commend his team for their work after dialling in a brand new Hyundai i30 N TCR this weekend on the back of his violent Raidillon crash at Spa last time out.

“I have to give massive credit to Target and all the boys,” said Files to TouringCarTimes. “They have managed to sort out a brand new car, take it apart, rebuild it and get it ready for the weekend in race-winning condition. For them to do all this hard work – along with the other four [team] cars, let’s not forget – is a huge turnaround after Spa.”

Files started the race from second on the grid, but swiftly grabbed the lead after passing the fellow Hyundai of Luca Filippi (BRC Racing Team) at Turn 1 and never looked back.

Files, a two-time champion in the German TCR series, revealed that the safety car triggered early in the race had also played to his advantage.

“I made a really good start,” he said. “We actually set our car up to be strong at the start so I could attack in the first laps, and try to pull a gap. I was quite relieved for the safety car, because already after three laps we were going into understeer. When the safety car came out, that was perfect; it meant I could bring the tyres down, relax, and again I had a good car at the restart.

“The safety car helped us quite a lot to be honest.”

Files – who has never been beaten at the Red Bull Ring, winning six out of seven career races at the track and retiring from one – predicts life will be more difficult in Sunday’s Race 2 when he is set to start from ninth on the partially-reversed grid.

“I think we’ll struggle,” he admitted. “We are a bit too slow on the straights compared to basically all the VAG cars, and also the Honda which has a very good aero package. It won’t be easy to come through and I think my Red Bull Ring run [of victories] might end tomorrow, but we’ll give it our best!”