Jack Young was delighted to secure his first victory in TCR machinery in the opening round of TCR Europe in Portugal, where he headed a Halder Motorsport 1-2.
Young has raced in TCR touring cars full-time since the start of 2021, and finally secured his first win after entering his 25th race in all competitions.
Having qualified in second behind team-mate Mike Halder, Young kept pace with his German team boss for the first three laps, before claiming the lead on the fourth tour at the hairpin.
The Northern Irishman was then able to pull clear of Halder for the remaining distance of the race, and didn’t come under further pressure for the win.
After claiming two seconds earlier in the month in the TCR Italy opener, the JAS Motorsport development driver admitted it had been a great feeling to finally claim his first TCR win.
“It’s amazing,” said Young. “We’ve been chasing this for a long time for this past year and to do it in the first round in TCR Europe and lead the championship going into race two is an amazing feeling.
“It’s a brilliant result for the team; a 1–2 in qualifying and doing it again in the race, you can’t ask for more than that.
“Regarding the overtake on Mike – to be honest I actually locked up, so it was crash into him or do the move! Luckily it worked and I think it was a bit of team play as well.
“I managed my lap times after I overtook Mike, made a few small mistakes but after that I got used to the wear of the tyres and brakes and stuff like that, then just pumped in the laps and built a gap. I’m very happy.”
Young will start from ninth for Sunday’s reverse-grid second race.