The Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Italy played host to the 2019 TCR Europe Touring Car Series finale at the weekend, where we were treated to a fantastic final two races of the year, with plenty of side by side action and the close racing that we have come to expect from TCR Competition.

Coming into the weekend, three men were mathematically in contention for the driver’s title: Josh Files, Julien Briché and Andreas Bäckman. After Qualifying, the fight was between just Files and Briché with the Peugeot driver showing a clear speed advantage after the weekend’s previous sessions of Free Practice and Qualifying. All Files had to do make sure he outscored the Frenchman.

Thrown in a 33 car entry that would fight as hard as possible at the Cathedral of Speed to score points and podiums in the series finale and you can understand why watching TCR Competition as Monza was such an exciting show. Come Sunday lunchtime, Files had done enough to secure his fourth TCR Drivers Titles in four years and Briché was the 2019 TCR Benelux Champion.

We take a look back at the final chapter in the 2019 story of TCR Europe…

Race One: Files fights back as Briché wins

Having dominated Qualifying, Julien Briché and Aurélien Comte played their game of strategy as the two Peugeot drivers dominated the first TCR Europe race at Monza, finishing first and second at the finish, just as they had done earlier that morning.

This was Briché’s fourth victory of the season and helped him reduce the gap to Files by ten points in the driver’s title race. However, the Hyundai driver fought back from ninth on the grid to claim third place at the finish and setting the race’s fastest lap in the process giving his maximum to stay in touch with his rival.

This left Files with a 33-point lead ahead of the final race of the year on Sunday, where there were still 40 points on offer for the race win. With such a large gap back to Files by the time the Hyundai driver had caught them both, the race was over and the Target Competition driver had to settle for third place.

Behind them, Santiago Urrutia was classified fourth ahead of a brilliant Mat’o Homola who elbowed his way through the field, recovering from seventeenth on the grid to finish fifth at the end ahead of Gilles Magnus and Andreas Bäckman in seventh place. Dominik Baumann, Teddy Clairet and Nelson Panciatici in the M Racing Hyundai completed the top ten places.

John Filippi, returning driver Stian Paulsen, Klim Gavrilov and young Moroccan rookie Sami Taoufik completed the top fourteen finishers with Honda driver Viktor Davidovski taking the last point in fifteenth place.

Race Two: Files takes the title in style

Josh Files secured the 2019 TCR Europe drivers title in Monza at the end of the very last race of the season, in which he took his third win of the year beating a determined Julien Briché who never gave up in his pursuit of the Hyundai driver.

He ended his superb season in style with a masterpiece race that saw him taking the lead during the opening lap and then building a small gap that enabled him to resist Briché’s attentions during the final laps.

The Frenchman had to recover 33 points in the standings and needed a miracle to succeed in this task. However, he pushed hard until the very end, starting from tenth place on the grid and making a series of strong overtaking moves to finish as runner-up in both the race and the championship.

Daniel Lloyd continued his strong run to the end of the season by completing the podium in third place after a ten-second penalty was imposed on Aurélien Comte for gaining an unfair advantage during the final lap whilst he fought the Honda driver for third place.

With the second race full of more action as drivers passed and repassed each other lap after lap, Teddy Clairet managed to make up ground to take fourth place ahead of the resurgent Gianni Morbidelli in the WestCoast Racing Volkswagen. For Santiago Urrutia, sixth place was enough to secure third position in the final standings of the year.

With Comte classified in seventh place, Jimmy Clairet, Maxime Potty and Baumann completed the top ten positions with the Hyundai driver starting in twenty-third place for race two. Luca Filippi and Luca Engstler had improved performances after race one with Davidovski taking thirteenth position. Homola and Andreas Bäckman completed the top fifteen points positions.

Results remain provisional due to Technical Checks

The results of the final TCR Europe race in Monza, and therefore the final results of the series, remain provisional pending the technical checks of the ECU of Josh Files’ Team Target Competition Hyundai i30 N car.

The software of the ECU will be checked by the TCR technical delegate and the TCR technical department. Marcello Lotti, the president of WSC Group, explained the reasons behind this check.

“Our aim is always to keep TCR competition at the highest and fairest level, which is why we give priority to thorough technical checks. We understand that this is not the ideal situation for the promoter and the competitors, but this is what our technical department has deemed appropriate to enable complete technical checks.”

What’s next? 2020!

With the 2019 TCR Europe Touring Car Series now complete, its the beginning of a long winter for the largest TCR Series globally. However, this does allow for plenty of time for teams and drivers to get budgets together for the 2020 season.

There hasn’t been a calendar released yet for the 2020 TCR Europe Touring Car Series, however as a reference, this year’s calendar was announced back in December 2018. Therefore we have plenty of time to see if there are any changes for next year.

This also leaves plenty of time to see who which drivers and teams return to the series and who will decide to make their debut against Europe’s best TCR drivers next year.

Photo Credit: © WSC Ltd / TCR Europe Touring Car Series