Target Competition’s Reece Barr says it was impossible to defend from the Volkswagen Group runners in the reverse-grid TCR Europe race at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Irishman had started from pole for round six of the 2018 season with teammate Kris Richard for company on the front row, but dropped to eighth place by the end of the first lap, where he stayed for the remainder of the race.
He told TouringCars.Net he was nothing he could do to defend from the VAG runners on the straight, and was in damage limitation mode after the first lap.
“We knew it was going to be tough with the BoP,” said Barr. “I got a good start and slotted in behind my teammate Kris [Richard], and went up Eau Rouge OK and once we got onto the straight all the guys in the VAG group cars just drove past and there was nothing I could really do about it.
“It’s almost impossible to defend. I think five of them got past I just had to have damage limitation from then on in and just managed the race as best I could. I came out eighth which was OK.”
Barr is hopeful that the Balance of Performance will favour the Hyundai’s more at the next round in Budapest, as the brand struggled for top-end speed over the weekend.
“Yeah it’s been tough,” he said. “To be fair Kris managed to fend them [the VAG cars] off but I think it was just because they were battling behind him, he was still struggling with pace because they’re so fast up the straight but he did a good job to fend them off.
“Hopefully they get the BoP changed [for Hungary] because it’s pretty unfair at the minute. So if they get that sorted, we have a fighting chance to perform at Hungary and it looks like it should be a good track for us so I’m excited.”