Sami Taoufik admitted he was “really happy” to end race two of the TCR Europe weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard on the podium.
Taoufik, driving one of the four Sébastien Loeb Racing Hyundai Elantra N’s, ended the second race of the weekend in third position after getting the better of PSS Racing Team man Viktor Davidovski late on in the 10 lap race .
The young Moroccan driver had also qualified strongly for yesterday’s first race of the weekend, but was forced to retire on the opening lap of Saturday’s race after contact with teammate Niels Langeveld.
As well as overtaking Davidovski, Taoufik had also earlier in race two produced a sublime move around the outside of three of his rivals including SLR teammates Mehdi Bennani and Felice Jemlmini and also Franco Girolami.
“It was a bit of a shame yesterday as we had so much potential to show and we could have had two Moroccan flags on the podium but today I was really happy to bring it back, particularly after making such a poor start,” explained Taoufik after the end of Sunday’s race.
“I managed to make a cheeky overtaking move on the outside and managed to prove myself today. I just hope that move makes the highlights on YouTube!”
Taoufik, who claimed his first podium of the season with his third place in race two of the weekend in France, also added that he hopes the result is the first of more top three results to come in 2021.
“It feels amazing, I can’t wait to get the season really going and I hope to finish on the podium more often and to support the Moroccan flag – that’s what I’m here for,” said the delighted Taoufik.
“With the dropped score rule this year there’s a different strategy and so I’m effectively only one race in the hole from yesterday. From now on it’s positive drives and just trying to get the points in.”
The TCR Europe series heads to Circuit Zandvoort in the Netherlands for its next event on the weekend of June 18-20.