Jack Young had a strong end to the 2021 TCR Europe series at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, with two Junior Trophy podiums confirming the Northern Irishman as third in the junior classification, and even with 60kg of ballast onboard his Brutal Fish Racing Team Honda, he was running in second and threatening for victory in the final race before a penalty for a minor infraction.
The Belfast driver qualified in eighth place for the first race at Spain, which was a strong performance, with his recent pace having seen him rewarded with the maximum possible weight penalty this weekend. Young managed to hold position in the race, holding back the charging Peugeot of Jimmy Clairet to finish in eighth overall, and to rack up his seventh Junior Trophy class podium of the season.
On Sunday, Young started third on the grid, and managed to drive around the outside of his Honda team-mate Isidro Callejas to grab second place, before chasing down race leader and Junior rival Klim Gavrilov’s CUPRA, and keep the pressure on to try and grab victory at his final opportunity. Unfortunately, Young crossed the white lines one too many times, and he was handed a harsh drive-through penalty for track limits infringements with three laps to go, which when served, dropped him to 12th in the final order.
The points from the two days were enough to move Jack into the top ten in the drivers’ standings however, an impressive result for Young in his first full season in a regional level touring car championship.
Jack Young said: “It’s been a strong end to the season, it’s a just a shame we missed out on that final podium. To have the performance we had this weekend while carrying 60kg of ballast has been very encouraging. I’ve had a great season and been so close to the pace, have made very few mistakes, and I’ve learned a lot from Brutal Fish Racing Team and JAS Motorsport. I’m also happy to have broken into the top ten in the standings in what has been an incredibly competitive series, fighting with drivers such as Mikel Azcona, Mehdi Bennani, and Tom Coronel, who are all world championship level drivers. It’s been an incredibly important year for me in terms of my development, and planning what to do next.”