Josh Files says taking the top time in qualifying for the TCR Europe series at Assen was a ‘bittersweet feeling’ after he lost his pole position due to a three-place grid penalty from the previous event.
Files put his KCMG Honda at the top of the timesheets in qualifying, with a margin of just 0.085 seconds over the Audi of Jean-Karl Vernay.
However, the Brit will start the opening race from fourth after receiving a three-place grid penalty for contact with another driver in the previous race at the Hungaroring.
“I am very happy with how things went in qualifying,” said Files. “We worked well on the set-up, improving throughout the sessions.
“It’s a bittersweet feeling however, as I will start from P4 because of the penalty, but it’s always nice to win a pole.
“It’s a nice reward for the entire KCMG team and all the good work they have done.”
Files put in one of the fastest times in the final sector, where the Audi was expected to be fastest, giving him confidence for the first race on Saturday afternoon.
“I had some oversteer in Q1, but the corrections we made worked well. I think we will be OK in the race as we were very happy with the long-run pace when we tested it in free practice.”
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 14:51 CEST (13:51 BST).