Mike Halder believes he has “the best team he could possibly have” after his small outfit helped him take a dominating win in the opening TCR Europe race in Barcelona.
Halder, driving the Profi Car Team Halder Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR, finished nearly five seconds ahead of nearest challenger Pepe Oriola to become the first driver to take two wins in the series so far in 2020.
After getting the better of pole sitter Mat’o Homola at the first corner of the opening lap, Halder didn’t look back and went on to take a fine victory in challenging conditions.
“I’m really proud of the whole team,” said the German driver. “We only have seven members here to run two cars so it’s a very small team but it’s the best I could possibly have.
“They gave me a really good car and so I’m very proud of all of them.
“I made a good start in what were quite difficult conditions, and I managed to have two or three good flying laps at the beginning of the race to build a good gap; after that I could control my pace and the gap between me and Pepe.
“Today was very good for the Championship and we need to score as many points as possible tomorrow. We can’t afford a repeat of what happened in Monza where we scored two zero-point finishes…”
The second round of the weekend at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya takes place tomorrow at 13:55 CEST (12:55 BST).