Andreas Bäckman: “I’m not used to leading like that”

Target Competition driver Andreas Bäckman claimed his first victory of the season in the second TCR Europe race of the weekend in Barcelona.

Bäckman started from pole position ahead of his team-mates Jessica Bäckman and John Filippi and quickly opened a gap that allowed him to lead the race comfortably, something he’s not used to.

“It was a really tricky race because I was leading for the whole time and I’m not really used to being at the front and leading like that,” he said.

Tyre management was an issue for the field under Barcelona’s sunny conditions and warm temperatures, and Bäckman was wary of suffering an issue before the end of the race.

“In the end, the tyres were starting to go off and I was quite scared on the final lap,” he said, “because I thought I might get a puncture or something as this track is very hard on the front tyres.”

Bäckman’s victory comes after the Swedish driver had to withdraw from the Monza event due to pain in his wrist after his accident at Zolder. The Target Competition driver praised his team after a difficult first part of the season.

“After my accident in Zolder, I was very happy to get back in the car; there isn’t any pain in my wrist anymore when I’m driving,” he said.

“The team had a really difficult first half of the season, so to come back and have this victory was really good for me and for them. It’s sad for Jessica and John because we could have had a 1-2-3, which would have been great for all of us.”

After the fourth round of the 2020 TCR Europe season at Barcelona, Bäckman has climbed to twelfth place in the championship with 110 points.