Target Competition’s Kris Richard says he feels “pretty satisfied” with his two top-ten finishes in the TCR Europe races at the Hungaroring after a “very difficult” qualifying.
The Swiss failed to make it through to Q2 on Saturday, but said “driving smart” helped him to capitalise on a frantic opening contest as he progressed from 13th to fifth in race one.
Richard told TouringCars.Net after race one he would be happy with a top-eight result in race two, and he brought his Hyundai home in seventh behind Target Competition stable-mate Reece Barr.
“I’m pretty satisfied with the result,” said Richard. “Of course fifth would have been better but I tried the best I could, pushed hard in the first four or five laps then my tyres were a little bit overheated and from then on I was not able to keep the speed on the same level.
“To bring home P7 without any damage is quite good. For me it’s just disappointing that I missed qualifying 2 and if you make a mistake or have bad luck like this then the whole weekend is very difficult because you have to start both times from behind.”
As a poor qualifying result hampered Richard’s weekend, he said he would prefer two qualifying sessions over a TCR Europe weekend – one before each race – as is the format in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters.
“I really would prefer like they do it in the DTM,” he said. “Two qualifying sessions and two races would be better. But it is like it is and it’s the same for everybody.
“Eyes on the next race in Assen to try to do a good qualifying again.
“We have to see what is going on with the Balance of Performance – I think for Barcelona and Monza we need to find more top speed for sure.”