Attila Tassi was frustrated to miss out on a podium finish in the opening TCR Europe race at Monza, taking the chequered flag in sixth after a race in which the KCMG driver fell backwards.
Tassi had started the race in third and was confident of taking the fight to the leading duo, even getting alongside Jean-Karl Vernay and Mikel Azcona heading into the first chicane.
However, the Hungarian had to back out of the move and lost momentum heading into the second chicane, allowing Vernay back through before team-mate Josh Files took third at the next corner.
With the Honda pair having had an agreement before the race that whoever was the fastest driver would be allowed to go ahead, Tassi admitted he was surprised that Files had not allowed him more than three corners to show his pace.
That then left Tassi vulnerable to the Volkswagen Golf of Maxime Potty and the Hyundai of Dušan Borković, who duly got past on laps five and six respectively.
“In our last conversation we decided that if he [Files] is much faster than me that we would swap positions,” said Tassi to TouringCars.Net. “At the end for sure he was faster, but I don’t think it was that much more, maybe a few tenths.
“I was a little bit surprised that he overtook me to be honest, because I thought he would maybe at least let me have one lap to see how the pace was.
“After that I had to defend against Potty and Borković. To be honest I did not have much chance in a straight line with them, so they just drove next to me, braked and turned into the corner. After that I tried to at least cover my sixth position.”
Tassi is target a podium in Sunday’s second race, but admits that it will be a difficult feat from eighth on the reversed grid.
“I wanted to be on the podium, but maybe tomorrow I can, although I don’t know how. With luck it is possible, but we will see.”