Top Supercars drivers Chaz Mostert and James Moffat, amongst others, sampled TCR machinery at the Sydney Motorsport Park on Monday, as the TCR Australia series provided a media and test day ahead of the inaugural season in 2019.
The day at the Sydney Motorsport Park gave drivers and teams the opportunity to get up close with four TCR-spec cars which have arrived in Australia, before taking to the track in Audi RS3, Honda Civic, Hyundai i30 N and Volkswagen Golf GTi machinery.
Drivers taking part in the day included Supercars drivers Chaz Mostert, James Moffat, Tony D’Alberto, Garth Tander and Macauley Jones amongst others.
Teams got a close look at the two-litre touring cars, with key identities such as Garry Rodgers, Brad Jones and Jason Bright in attendance.
“Overall, I was lucky to get invited out by Barry Morcom to get a drive of the new Hyundai TCR cars that will race in Australia next year,” said Mostert, who sampled the South Korean machinery.
“I haven’t driven too many front wheel drive cars, but it felt pretty cool. They are kind of like a hot hatch, front wheel drive GT3 car. It handled really good, and I just love driving different cars.
“As a front wheel drive car, it’s definitely on steroids! You can get quite a lot of speed up and the way it moves around is quite exciting. It also makes you feel pretty safe behind the wheel.
“They are actually quite comparable to a GT3 car in terms of driver satisfaction.
“Overall, I think TCR is pretty cool and it will be great to see a big field of these. Toe to toe racing, there’s a lot of potential in the series, but really, I’m just stoked to be asked by Barry to come out here and have a drive of the Hyundai.”
Moffat sampled the Honda Civic Type-R, whilst Tander and Jones shared the Audi RS3 LMS and D’Alberto drove the Volkswagen Golf GTi.
“TCR is an exciting, worldwide category,” added Moffat. “It’s was exciting to be involved in the launch at Sydney Motorsport park and driving this Honda was a lot of fun.
“TCR is a category across the world that is appealing to manufacturers. You can see that with how many are involved in the different championships around the world.
“It will be really interesting to see how many different types of cars end up here.”
The 2019 TCR Australia series gets underway on 17 – 19 May at Sydney Motorsport Park.