REECE IS RAISING THE BARR

Reece Barr may be a relatively new name in the word of circuit racing, but he’s certainly going places. The 17-year-old Irishman is rapidly climbing the ranks in tin-top racing, and will next year move into European competition with a campaign in the German ADAC TCR Championship with reigning champion team Target Competition. It’s a big move to jump straight into such a competitive series, especially on foreign soil, but Barr has more than proved his ability in his maiden season in the Mini Challenge JCW Championship. Already a multiple Irish karting champion, Barr tackled his first year of car racing in an Excelr8 Motorsport-run JCW this term, and proved a revelation. After just four races, he’d already secured his maiden victory, and was leading the championship after the opening two weekends. “Ahead of this year the target was to finish inside the top five in the championship and get a few podium finishes,” says Barr. “If the chance was there to fight for a win it would have been great, so to get the first win in just my fourth race meant I was already ahead of expectations. That defined my whole season really. “It meant I could relax a bit more and focus on my driving and learning. The Mini Challenge was the best place I could have gone for that. It taught me racecraft in cars, and it’s such a competitive series that mistakes really do punish you. We had a few mechanical problems that hurt us ultimately, but I never let them get me down. It taught me to not let issues get on top of me. I’m a different driver after my first full season.” Despite a few costly setbacks, Barr finished the year second overall in the championship, and winner of the JCW Rookie Cup class. With his original targets met and exceeded, Barr now feels it’s time to make another step up. As part of the Andy Priaulx Sports Management programme, he benefits from mentoring and specialist training, which he feels will help him adapt to European touring car racing. Barr tested a Honda Civic with Target in Italy recently. He says he was sold on the TCR concept in Europe. “The Civic was an amazing car,” he says. “You get so much more control as a driver with many more options for things like brake bias, and it actually feels easy to drive and very enjoyable. “There’s a lot more grip and power to adjust to, and I’ll change my training to help prepare me for that, and of course all of the circuits will be new to me, but many were new to me this year and it didn’t hold me back. “As soon as I tested the TCR car I knew I had the capability to race it next year. I felt comfortable immediately. If you look at this year, I was brand new to car racing, brand new to the Mini and the circuits, and we set ourselves an ambitious goal, which I ended up bettering. So the goals have to be similar for next year. I have to keep the intensity up and keep striving to be better. “It will undoubtedly be a challenge for me, but it’s one I really feel ready for.”