Braydan Willmington will join the 2022 TCR Australia series, after acquiring the ex-Garry Rogers Motorsport Alfa Romeo Giulietta which was campaigned by Jordan Cox this year.
Willmington, 23, will switch to tin top racing for the first time in his career next year, having previously raced in the Australian S5000 single-seater championship.
In this year’s full S5000 season, Willmington ended the year tenth overall in the drivers’ championship, the last placed full-season driver, having claimed a best result of eighth.
Willmington, the son of 1980s and 1990s touring car privateer Garry, will race the car with his privateer squad, and recently took delivery of the Romeo Ferraris-built machine.
Although he has no touring car experience, Willmington has previously raced in speedway and local competitions, giving him some experience of front-wheel drive racing.
“I’m used to driving these sorts of cars, so it should be a much easier learning curve compared to the S5000,” said Willmington.
“I’ve done quite a bit of grass roots circuit racing, and almost all of that was front wheel drive. I do have a lot more knowledge of these types of cars, and dad is a lot more excited that we are going touring car racing too!
“Hopefully it will be easier for us because as much as we enjoyed the S5000, it was really an alien race car to us.
“My first impressions of the TCR is that they are very cool. They have a decent amount of power, very stable and the Alfa is really nice to drive. I enjoyed the test and I can’t wait to get back in the car.
“I’d like to be in the top ten at some point. Whether that’s at the start or end of the season, we’ll see. But we would like to consistently run in the top ten, be that this year or next year.
“I did enjoy the challenge of S5000. We were frustrated that we didn’t have the results, but I didn’t have the budget to risk damage. If I put it in the wall, our season was done.
“I feel like I was capable, but there was something on my mind that kept me from pushing it to the maximum with a fear from being out for the rest of the season.”