Julien Briché admitted he was ‘struggling to keep control of the car’ in the later stages of the final race of the season at Jarama as he held off Mikel Azcona.
Peugeot 308 driver Briché had been in a battle throughout the later stages of the race with the 2018 TCR Europe champion, as well as Andreas Bäckman and Nicolas Baert, but he managed to take third place.
“It was a very difficult race,” explained the French driver.
“My start was anything but special, but I was able to recover some positions during the first laps.
“Unfortunately, the first intervention of the safety car disrupted my rhythm, and this meant that my hopes to claim a victory were over.”
Heading into the 2020 season, Briché was one of the potential frontrunners in the championship, but ended the season down in tenth in the Drivers Standings.
Rival Azcona had managed to get past Briché earlier in the race at the beginning of lap eight, but the JSB Competition man managed to get back ahead just a few corners later before championship winner Mehdi Bennani managed to overtake both in the later stages to take second.
He went on to add that he wanted to however finish the season strongly and his third place was exactly what he was looking for.
“I wanted to finish on the podium and so continued to push and had a tough fight with Azcona,” he commented.
“However, this had an impact on my tyres that during the final laps were completely worn out; I struggled to keep control of the car, so I couldn’t prevent Bennani from passing me for P2.
“I took a lot of risks, but I wanted to finish in style what has been a difficult season for me.”
Briché took one win in the 2020 season at Monza back in September.