Former championship leader Nicolas Taylor regrets not backing off the pace late in Race 1 while he was chasing down the Hyundai of Junui Park for victory, after a late-race puncture dropped him to 14th and into the lower points-paying positions.

The Canadian driver was pressuring Park’s Elantra N EV TCR in his PMA Motorsport-run Audi, but as team-mate Nicola Baldan had stopped with a puncture a few laps earlier, the team was warning Taylor to look after his tyres.

Taylor dropped pace, but not significantly, and with a 16-second gap to the Monlau Motorsport CUPRA of Adam Shepherd who was also preserving his tyres, he believes he should have done more.

“I backed off by about eight-tenths, but I realise now I could have dropped four seconds a lap and still finished second. I thought if I kept the pressure on Junui he could still make a mistake,” said Taylor.

Taylor's weekend got worse in Race 2, when contact first dislodged the nose of his RS 3 LMS. Further contact then detached it completely, affecting the car's cooling system and forcing him to stop on circuit.

Taylor lost the championship lead he’d held since early June to fall to third in the standings, 19 points adrift off the lead, while second in Race 1 would have seen him hold a six-point lead over Marco Butti going to Barcelona.

On the positive side, Taylor will be the best-placed title contender to be carrying 0kg compensation weight at the championship decider on October 23-25 at Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona.