Jack Young is targeting a podium finish in Sunday’s final TCR Europe race of the season in Barcelona, where the Brutal Fish Racing driver will start from third in the reversed grid race.
Young admitted that he had found Saturday’s track action a challenge, after he qualified in eighth for race one and then followed that up with finishing in the same place in the race.
The Northern Irishman has had to carry 60 kg of compensation weight into the Spanish event, thanks to having shown strong pace last time out at Monza, where he qualified on the front row and claimed a podium finish.
“Saturday was really hard – we just didn’t have the pace whatsoever,” said Young to TouringCars.Net. “The weight, the 60 kg, from Monza, it’s a real killer around here.
“Any kilos you can get off the car is going to make it so much better. The tyres were just so worn away in the end and luckily I managed to hold off the Peugeot [of Jimmy Clairet] for eighth.
“It’s been really hard today, so we’ve had a rethink, and we’re confident going into tomorrow that we can maybe get a better result.
“It was a pretty lonely race for me the whole race. I passed maybe one car, because I fell back at the start.
“Then, on the last lap, we had contact with the Peugeot, but then he cut the chicane and gave me back the place. It was a good race but hopefully tomorrow will be better.”
The 19-year-old says he is targeting a podium to end his season, but he expects it to be a challenge, with the CUPRA of Klim Gavrilov having pole position and Brutal Fish team-mate Isidro Callejas also in front of Young on the grid.
“A podium would be good, but it’s going to be a tall order, so we’ll see what happens. Obviously, I would love to win my first race. Anything can happen, so we’ll see.”
Young is not yet certain of his plans for next season, but believes he has learnt a lot from his maiden season in TCR Europe, where he is 11th in the drivers’ standings ahead of the final race of the year, just six points behind team-mate Callejas.
“I would say it’s a big learning curve for me. I’ve definitely learnt more this year than I ever have done in racing.
“Wherever we go next year I’ll take that experience with me and bring it in to wherever I’m going.”