After a season long fight with over 40 competitiors, tough battles and close fights, Files secured his second TCR Germany Championship title in the Finale at Hockenheim. Files scored 411 points throughout the season bettering nearest rival Mike Halder's 346 Points. The 26 year old Britain also helped secure the Teams Championship for Target Competition UK-SUI contributing 389 of the 424 points tally.
4 Races - 6 Victories - 9 Podiums. Files is the most successful TCR champion of all time, the only driver to hold 3 individual TCR titles.
Race Report Hockenheim Finale
Qualifying: Files had to fight against maximum success ballast from Rd6 in Sachsenring as well as an overall Top Speed deficit in his Honda Civic Type R TCR car. Despite the pressure, he managed to qualify an outstanding P10 for race one, and Pole position for Race 2, setting the weekend up for an intense show down.
Race 1: Files made another outstanding start. He was squeezed to the pit wall however, having to lift out and losing his initial momentum. He knew he only need to finsh 17th to secure the Championship but Files pushed to regain control and get back ahead of his competitors. He was back into 10th place and hunting down the battle for 7th before the safety car had to be deployed at half distance. Due to the severity of the crash the car had to be red flagged 4 laps later as the car could not be recovered from the Track within the remaining time.
This was enough to secure the championship with 1 race to go, allowing Files to win his second consecutive TCR Germany title.
Race 2: From Pole position Files lead the way into turn 1 but came under increasing pressure from Fugel Sport driver Moritz Östreich. On lap 2 the pair duelled for the lead, with Östreich going through, and now Files was side by side with Langeveld and Holder in a 3 way scrap for 2nd. He held his nerve and held position. On the next lap, Audi diver Langeveld
made his way passed on the straight, but again Files retook control at the next corner with another champions move! Östreich was now handed a drive through penalty for a jump start so Files took back the lead, still fighting to hold his position with Audi driver Max Hofer now up to 2nd. The safety car was deployed briefly with the battle intensifying in
the final stages after the restart. The race was eventually red flagged with 3 minutes to go and Files held on for win number 6 of the season.
“What a way to finish the season! The championship, the Teams championship and another race win! Target Competition have done an amazing job for 2 seasons with this Honda and they deserve everything they get! I’m so hugely proud of them. The support I’ve had from JAS Motorsport and of course Profi-Car has been exceptional and it would be possible without all of them this year. We are looking already to next year as there are more championships out there that we need to fight for, so I really cannot wait to see what the future brings. An amazing year and hopefully an amazing future too…"
The ADAC TCR Germany season is finished for this year and we are working hard to make the step up into the TCR International 2018.
We will keep you updated...