Series leader Mike Halder admitted he ‘took no risks’ on his way to finishing third in round nine of the TCR Europe championship in Belgium.
Halder extended his championship lead to 15 points over second placed Mehdi Bennani after Saturday’s opening race of the weekend, with the Moroccan being one of the drivers who Halder overtook on his way to the podium.
“I’m really happy to go from P7 to P3 with all my championship rivals behind me, so we made the gap in the standings a little bit bigger,” said the pleased Halder.
“The team did a really good job, so I want to thank them.
“It was crazy on the grid, because I saw Comtoyou putting slicks on the front wheels on their cars; they know this circuit so well and how slicks work in the rain.
“I decided to use wet tyres and I think that was the right choice. I took no risks when I passed other cars.”
Halder ended up battling with Target Competition’s John Filippi for third by the end of the nine lap race and the Honda Civic driver got the better of him after a fine cutback move at Stavelot.
“Filippi did a very good job,” commented Halder.
“I could see where he was faster and where I was faster; I saw I had a slight gap to Andreas Bäckman, so I could pick my moment.
“The fight actually started about three or four corners before I actually passed him. He was very fair.
“Tomorrow, I’ll start from P3 and so I think it’s a good starting place for good points, so we will see.”
The result means Halder continues his strong 2020 campaign, with his only no scores so far this year taking place at Monza back in September.
Race two at Spa takes place tomorrow at 11:50 CEST (10:50 BST).