Josh Files confirmed his strong form at the wheel of the JAS Motorsport-built Honda Civic TCR by emerging as the dominant driver of the first day’s proceedings at Abu Dhabi.
The Briton, who was crowned champion in last year’s ADAC TCR Germany Series, claimed pole position and then won the first race on his maiden appearance in the TCR Middle East Series for Dubai-based Lap57 Motorsport.
However, Files’ victory only ripened in the final laps, after a close fight with Davit Kajaia’s Mulsanne Racing Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR. Kajaia, who was also sitting for the first time in the Italian car, matched the second place claimed by Michela Cerruti at Dubai four weeks ago.
Italian teenager Giacomo Altoè came home a brilliant third in the Top Run Motorsport Subaru WRX TCR, while the fight for fourth position ended in drama when Luca Engstler and Brandon Gdovic were involved in a collision during the last lap.
Gdovic finished fourth from Mohammed Al Owais and Engstler, which helped the American to stretch his leadership in the standings to nine points ahead of his German teammate.
The fourth round of the TCR Middle East Series will take place tomorrow at 10:35 local time (07:35 in Central Europe).
Race 1: Kajaia makes Files work for the win
Josh Files, driving for the UAE-based Lap57 team, took his first victory in the TCR Middle East series after earlier setting the fastest time in both the Practice and Qualifying sessions. The Honda Civic driver didn’t have an easy run to the chequered flag, however, as the Mulsanne Racing Alfa Romeo Giulietta of Davit Kajaia led for eight of the race’s eleven laps. Files eventually took the lead on Lap 9.
Behind the race-long battle for the lead, Italian teenager Giacomo Altoè drove a solid race to give the Top Run racing team their first international podium result by finishing third in the Subaru WRX STi TCR. Brandon Gdovic finished fourth for Liqui Moly Team Engstler, while Mohammed Al Owais was classified fifth in a Honda after stopping on track on the final lap. Similarly, Luca Engstler and Stefan Goede failed to finish the race but were classified sixth and seventh respectively.
Key facts
Start – Mohammed Al Owais stalls on the start line and drops to the back of the field
Lap 1 – Files makes a poor start and Kajaia passes him for the lead; Engstler is up to 5th after starting from the back of the grid; Goede is up to 4th
Lap 3 – The battle for the lead continues, with Files and Kajaia now 0.5 seconds apart; Goede spins at Turn 17 but rejoins.
Lap 4 – Engstler and Gdovic are fighting for 4th while Goede enters the pits
Lap 5 – Gdovic now 0.4 seconds behind Engstler
Lap 6 – The gap between the leaders is now 0.27 seconds
Lap 7 – Files attacks Kajaia, but Kajaia holds on to the lead; Al Owais passes Gdovic for 5th place
Lap 8 – Files runs wide at Turn 14; him and Kajaia make contact at Turn 18
Lap 9 – There is a three-way battle for 4th place between Engstler, Al Owais and Gdovic; Files attacks Kajaia at Turn 18, but Kajaia holds onto the lead; Files manages to pass Kajaia for the lead at Turn 20
Lap 10 – Gdovic attacks Engstler for 5th place, but Engstler holds the position
Lap 11 – There’s contact between Gdovic and Engstler; Gdovic resumes, but Engstler stops at Turn 14; Al Owais stops at Turn 11; Files holds on to win from Kajaia by just 1.3 seconds; Altoè is a further 21 seconds behind
Quotes from the podium finishers in Race 1
Josh Files (winner): “That was very hard – we knew we had a lot of speed over one lap, but we hadn’t done an eleven lap race run so we didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t make a great start; I didn’t use enough clutch, which was my fault, and so it was a bit of post-season rust, I guess! Davit was very fast, the Alfa in a straight line is on another level and even when I was in his slipstream he was pulling away. Getting past was the difficulty, as I knew the only places to get past were in the slow corners in the last sector because down the straights he could pull away. It was a case of ‘I’m coming through, with or without your permission’ but I saw he seemed to make a mistake in one corner and that gave me the chance to come through. Tomorrow will certainly be interesting!”
Davit Kajaia (second): “I made a very good start and I was in the lead for eight laps, but I was very aggressive in the beginning to be fast and my front tyres slowly lost grip so I knew I couldn’t hold on to first place. I let Josh past, but I have to say I’m happy with the result. The car is in really good shape and I hope I can fight for more podiums. I’m very confident with the car, it’s very driveable and I have a very good feeling with it. I must say a big thank you to the team – they did a really, really good job and they improved the car step by step after every session.”
Giacomo Altoè (third): “I’m very happy with third place. This was my debut in a Touring Car race so it’s not a bad result! I was slower than the two leading cars and I had some small problems with my car’s gearbox, but finishing the race was important not just for me but for the car and the team. It’s the first race for me in the Subaru and I think the car is still improving and so I’m very happy for the entire team. With a good start tomorrow, maybe we can be on the podium in Race 2, we will see.”
Qualifying: Josh Files on pole position
The Lap57 Honda Civic of Josh Files set pole position after the 26 year old was the only driver to break the 2’22” barrier during the 35-minute Qualifying session.
Just as in the morning’s Practice, Files was again the fastest driver on track in the early stages of Qualifying, topping the timing screens with a fastest lap of 2:22.182. He bettered that performance by over a second with around 11 minutes remaining, with his improved time of 2:21.138 the new benchmark.
Despite clipping a bollard in the first half of the session, Davit Kajaia’s Alfa Romeo suffered no lasting damage and the Georgian driver set the session’s second quickest time of 2:22.904, with the Subaru of Italian teenager Giacomo Altoè third fastest, lapping the Yas Marina circuit in 2:23.392
Luca Engstler, carrying 20kg of Success Ballast after the first TCR Middle East round in Dubai, was only fourth fastest (2:24.031) and again caught the attention of the Race Director for infringing track limits. As a consequence, the Stewards decided to demote him to the back of the grid for Race 1 and to deprive him of the two points scored thanks to the fourth position in the Qualifying session.
Files said: “It went pretty well, we had a couple of tyre runs because I wasn’t completely happy with things on the first run and we made a slight adjustment and it worked well. The car from JAS has been fantastic and the team from Lap57 is making sure everything is working and reliable. It’s great being on an F1 track because you know which parts of the track you can use and which bits you can’t and finding the correct lines so that everything flows from one corner to the next really excites me – I really think about technical circuits and this is definitely a technical circuit.”