Josh Files wins race two at Monza to seal TCR Europe title

Target Competition’s Josh Files claimed victory in the season finale of the TCR Europe series at Monza, clinching the title with a controlled win ahead of JSB Compétition title rival Julien Briché.

Files started the race from second on the grid and moved into the lead with a pass on pole-sitter Maxime Potty at the second chicane on the opening lap.

Files was then able to open up enough of a margin at the front over fellow Brit Dan Lloyd, but it became title rival Briché who he had to defend from in the closing stages of the race after the Frenchman hauled his Peugeot up from tenth on the grid to second.

Briché had passed Lloyd’s Honda for second on lap eight, but despite closing the lead gap to less than half a second he was unable to find a way past his season-long rival.

Files’ third win of the year means he ends the season with a 38 point championship gap to Briché, who scored his seventh podium of the year.

Brutal Fish Racing’s Dan Lloyd was classified in third, after DG Sport’s Aurélien Comte passed him on the final lap but was later handed a post-race ten second penalty for cutting the first chicane.

That penalty dropped Comte to seventh, allowing the next-best Peugeot to be that of Teddy Clairet in fourth, with the Frenchman claiming a season-best result.

WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli had a quiet but strong race to fifth in the leading Volkswagen, equalling his season-best result, ahead of WRT’s Santiago Urrutia in sixth.

Urrutia thus claimed third overall in the drivers’ standings, leapfrogging Target Competition’s Andreas Bäckman, who went wide at the final corner and dropped out of the top ten, although the Swede had been set to fail to prevent Urrutia from passing him in the standings anyway.

Comte’s Peugeot was classified in seventh, ahead of the second Clairet Sport 308 of Jimmy Clairet in eighth, meaning all four of the French manufacturer’s cars finished inside the top ten for only the second time in 2019.

WRT’s Potty and Target Competition’s Dominik Baumann completed the top ten, the latter having come through from 24^th on the grid.

After his off at the final corner, Andreas Bäckman was only 15^th and consequently ends the year fourth overall in the standings, 16 points behind Urrutia.

Although there was once again no safety car, compared to Saturday’s race more drivers failed to finish. Nelson Panciatici picked up a right-rear puncture after five laps and limped to the pits, whilst Martin Ryba endured a spin on the opening lap before then spinning off again on lap six a Turn 4.

Tamás Tenke retired to the pits after six laps, whilst the second WestCoast Racing car of Olli Kangas pulled off on the same lap. Both Russia’s Klim Gavrilov and Brazil’s Guilherme Salas stopped two laps from the finish.

Race result

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	9	Josh FILES		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	25:38.083	1:57.750	2
2	24	Julien BRICHÉ		JSB Compétition	Peugeot 308 TCR	13	1.223	1:57.358	10
3	123	Daniel LLOYD		Brutal Fish Racing Team	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	13	5.739	1:57.525	5
4	111	Teddy CLAIRET		Team Clairet Sport	Peugeot 308 TCR	13	13.829	1:58.478	6
5	45	Gianni MORBIDELLI		WestCoast Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	13	14.038	1:58.611	4
6	55	Santiago URRUTIA		Team WRT	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	13	15.001	1:58.436	8
7	7	Aurélien COMTE		DG Sport Compétition	Peugeot 308 TCR	13	15.481	1:57.730	9
8	112	Jimmy CLAIRET		Team Clairet Sport	Peugeot 308 TCR	13	16.827	1:58.331	13
9	88	Maxime POTTY		Team WRT	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	13	19.421	1:58.953	1
10	58	Dominik BAUMANN		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	19.906	1:58.224	24
11	30	Luca FILIPPI		BRC Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	21.443	1:58.495	15
12	8	Luca ENGSTLER		M1RA Motorsport	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	21.640	1:58.696	17
13	10	Viktor DAVIDOVSKY		PSS Racing Team	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	13	22.446	1:58.443	19
14	70	Mat’o HOMOLA		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	23.753	1:58.533	18
15	19	Andreas BÄCKMAN		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	23.891	1:57.998	12
16	22	Josh BURDON		Brutal Fish Racing Team	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	13	25.152	1:58.588	14
17	27	John FILIPPI		PCR Sport	CUPRA TCR	13	31.550	1:58.778	11
18	26	Jessica BÄCKMAN		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	34.260	1:58.366	28
19	25	Natan BIHEL		M Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	34.874	1:58.116	22
20	16	Gilles MAGNUS		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	13	36.405	1:57.634	3
21	96	Abdulla Ali AL-KHELAIFI		QMMF Racing by PCR Sport	CUPRA TCR	13	40.541	1:58.643	20
22	15	Sami TAOUFIK		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	13	43.956	1:59.191	16
23	91	Grigoriy BURLUTSKIY		Carville Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	13	45.346	1:59.467	25
24	117	Albert LEGUTKO		Legutko Racing – ADAC Berlin	Honda Civic Type R FK2 TCR	13	56.052	2:00.520	32
25	21	Marie BAUS-COPPENS		JSB Compétition	CUPRA TCR	13	56.176	2:00.251	30
26	18	Paul IP Kung Ching		Brutal Fish Racing Team	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	13	1:22.869	2:01.568	33
27	34	Stian PAULSEN		Stian Paulsen Racing	CUPRA TCR	13	1:24.417	1:58.904	23
28	85	Guilherme SALAS		Vuković Motorsport	Renault Mégane RS TCR	11	+ 2 LAPS	1:58.377	29
29	14	Klim GAVRILOV		VRC Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	11	+ 2 LAPS	1:58.469	7
R	46	Olli KANGAS		WestCoast Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	6	DNF	1:59.065	27
R	23	Tamás TENKE		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA TCR	6	DNF	1:59.643	26
R	17	Martin RYBA		Brutal Fish Racing Team	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	5	DNF	1:59.375	31
R	12	Nelson PANCIATICI		M Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	5	DNF	1:58.214	21