Target Competition’s Reece Barr says that holding onto his lead from reverse-grid pole for race two of TCR Europe at Spa-Francorchamps will be “tough.”
The Irishman started the first race yesterday from tenth on the grid, and made progress before contact with Stian Paulsen ended his race, and Paulsen was later handed a drive-through penalty.
He told TouringCars.Net that the driving standards in race one were ‘questionable’ as he believes drivers need to be more patient when going for an overtake.
“Well obviously it didn’t go that well,” said Barr. “I had an OK start, gained a few positions into the first corner round the outside which I was happy with. I was on for a good race, and at the end of the first lap before the back straight I got hit from the rear by [Stian] Paulsen.
“It was a bit disappointing. The driving standards out there are a bit questionable. People just get too greedy and they try and grab something that they can’t get and it ends up leading to contact. It’s a bit silly.”
Starting from pole position with Target Competition stable-mate Kris Richard for company on the front row, Barr believes he’ll face a difficult task to hold off the Volkswagen Group machinery.
“It should be a good race. It’ll be tough to hold that obviously with the BoP issue – with the VAG cars being so fast on the straight, but I’ll try my best to keep them behind us. It should be an exciting race.
“Hopefully me and Kris can have a good race with each other as well, and bring some good points home for the team.”