PRO ANNUAL 2018

any drivers from our shores have made a name for themselves in various different categories over the past few decades, but there is one driver that is very much in demand - Josh Files. Before he first got his experience of a TCR racer at the 2015 TCR International Series finale at Macau, the 26-year- old came through the Renault Sport racing scene, picking up the 2013 UK Clio Cup and Clio EuroCup titles in the process. Files would partner up with now Hong Kong-based Brit Dan Wells in the former Portuguese colony, each driving an Opel Astra TCR around the 6.2- km Circuito de Guia. The former was not initially impressed by the Astra itself, with the three-door hatchback being far from what he initially thought a TCR car may perform like. However, a meeting with a team that had just won the International Series Team Trophy changed his outlook. “I wasn’t looking into TCR in any massive detail,” Files admitted, revealing that Target Competition’s Andreas and Markus Gummerer had actually approached him to test with them. “I learned about it from a chap called Michele Rangoni, who was at the time racing Clio Cup Italia. He asked me to race for him there, which I did in 2014 with Rangoni Corse, finishing third overall. I heard about TCR because of him, and so when TCR International got up and running the year after, I followed it and got the chance to go to Macau’.” So when the Briton headed off to work with Target Competition for the first time, he knew that the team’s intentions of being successful were not being taken lightly. “All their equipment and trucks were brand new, along with former-DTM engineer Albert, who is no fool, when it comes to strategies,” explained Files, who has been given the nickname “Feile” by the South Tyrol-based outfit, which is also emblazoned the doors of his Honda Civic Type-R TCR. “It showed that they had success in everything that they have done. They do throw money at it to make sure that they win. I jumped at the chance to join them, as the opportunity was too good to miss.” This Brit then joined the ranks of the ADAC TCR Germany Series for the inaugural 2016 season with Target Competition, opting to go for the Honda Civic. From that moment, Files has shown his calibre in a truly international field. He is the only driver to have won drivers’ titles in TCR Germany so far, as well as taking a clean sweep of victories to secure the TCR Middle East driver early in 2017 with Lap 57 Motorsports. With regards to the TCR programme’s ever- increasing expansion going further afield, news broke back in July that TCR UK would be joining the party for 2018. This was not a surprise to Files, who said that he knew it was happening a year in advance of the news being confirmed, even with no real game plan being put into action by TCR UK, which will be run through the British Racing and Sports Car Club. “It wasn’t really a shock, but having said that, I didn’t know at the time what their plans were, the package they were planning to put together, etc,” said Files, who feels that TCR UK will be “a hit,” along with working its way towards being a direct competitor to the British Touring Car Championship in due course. M “There are quite a few big names set to go into it, along with some really big names talking about it, giving it real consideration, if they do go in, it’ll be a big shock to many” PRO ANNUAL 2018 50