Teddy Clairet says he ‘gave it his all’ to claim a first podium in the TCR Europe series at Circuit Paul Ricard, where the Peugeot driver held off a six-car train to withstand late-race pressure.
The 26-year-old lined up in fifth for the reverse-grid race and should have been joined by his brother Jimmy on the third row of the grid, but a technical issue meant he would start the race with no driver by his side.
Teddy Clairet moved up to third with a strong start when the lights went out, jumping past both Andreas and Jessica Bäckman’s Hyundais at the start to assume third place.
Although Clairet was muscled out of the way by Néstor Girolami for the position on the following lap, he then moved back into a podium position when Sami Taoufik had to serve a drive-through penalty.
Thereafter Clairet held on to the final podium place for all his worth, despite slipping away from the leading duo and building up a six-car train behind him, as he drove a highly defensive final few laps.
“It was a hard race because I didn’t have the best rhythm,” said Clairet. “I knew that Andreas Bäckman and some of the other guys were faster behind me, but it was really fair with them, a good battle, so I want to thank them for that.
“I just tried to concentrate on myself, I didn’t want to make any mistakes and I wanted to give my all to finish on the podium.
“This was my first podium, so I’m very pleased; we worked a lot during the winter to improve our performance so I’m very happy with that.
“I must say thanks to my team and also to Peugeot Sport.”