Reece Barr was feeling confidence after a positive practice day in the TCR Europe series at TT Circuit Assen, with the Irishman having topped second practice and been the best Hyundai driver all day.
Barr put his Target Competition i30 N in second earlier in the morning’s first practice session, with a time that was nearly half a second slower than pace-setter Stefano Comini’s Honda.
However, Barr kept his pace consistent to top the afternoon’s second session with a time four thousandths faster, edging out team-mate Kris Richard by a slender margin.
The 18-year-old told TouringCars.Net that he was pleased with how his team performed in setting up the car, which together with the CUPRA and Peugeot 308, the heaviest car on the grid.
“We managed to have two good practice sessions, putting it in P2 for the first one and then P1 for the second one,” said Barr. “It couldn’t have gone much better in practice.
“It’s my first time here, although I think there are a few guys from the Benelux series who have raced here before. A few of the other drivers have tested here, so I’m pretty happy with we performed and how the guys at Target performed.
“Getting the car set up properly was a bit tricky this morning with the conditions. Free practice has gone really good, so I’m really happy with that.”
Barr sounded a word of caution as to the pace of the VAG (Volkswagen-Audi Group) cars, which he believes will perform well due to their straight-line speed benefit.
“It’s still not easy out there, with the straight-line speed of the Volkswagen cars, because there are a fair few straights around here.
“But the Hyundais are working really well and the corners are very well suited to the Hyundai, to be fair.”
Barr set himself modest expectations for the races, acknowledging that his lack of car racing experience could prove to be a weak point when it comes to racing side-by-side on Saturday and Sunday.
“I think it will be tough [to win] but I definitely think we have the speed and my preparation for this round was really good and a bit different to last time, so I feel pretty good.
“I’m only in my second year ever in cars. I’ve always known I’ve had the pace, so I’ve never really struggled mentally.
“Obviously I’m lacking a bit of experience, which makes the racing a bit harder. There are a lot of guys in this championship with a lot of experience, so I’m just trying to catch them up as quick as I can.
“Hopefully we can make that happen towards the end of this year and we can have a good run into next year.”