Comtoyou Racing’s Rob Huff secured his second TCR World Tour victory of the season in the final race of the weekend in Sydney, with the podium completed by BRC Racing’s Norbert Michelisz and the leading TCR Australia car of Will Brown.
Whilst it was Brown who had pole position, thanks to scoring the most points earlier in the weekend, it was Huff who shot into the lead at the start, as Brown appeared to creep before the lights went out and then checked himself, slowing his getaway.
Shortly after it was confirmed that Brown had jumped the start, and despite running in second and challenging Huff in the early stages, the MPC Team Liqui Moly driver would be given a five-second time penalty which dropped him back a place by the end of the race.
Hyundai’s Michelisz moved ahead of Comtoyou’s Frédéric Vervisch at the start of the race, with the Hungarian ultimately holding on to third for the duration of the race, before gaining a place with Brown’s penalty.
Despite losing a place, Brown was still confirmed as the winner in TCR Australia, meaning the 2019 champion completed a hat-trick of domestic wins at the circuit this weekend.
Huff, though, led the race from lights-to-flag and ensured that Audis won all three races at the Sydney venue.
Vervisch took fourth, although the Belgian had been involved in a controversial incident at the start – as well as being under investigation for a false start, with his penalty being suspended until after the race.
Going into the first corner, Vervisch had moved into second behind Huff, but there was contact with the fast-starting Peugeot of Aaron Cameron, which pitched the latter’s car briefly into the air and spinning off into the Turn 1 outfield.
Whilst Cameron was able to continue, he struggled to recover the lost ground and finished down in 18th place.
Josh Buchan was fifth overall and second in TCR Australia, meaning the HMO Customer Racing driver has edged closer to the points lead, having out-scored team-mate Bailey Sweeny in two of the three races this weekend.
BRC Racing’s Mikel Azcona followed Buchan in sixth, although more than ten seconds further adrift. Despite setting the fastest lap of the race, Azcona’s pace dropped off significantly in the latter stages, and the Spaniard was a ‘cork in the bottle’ at the head of a nine-car train.
Cyan Racing’s Yann Ehrlacher put significant late-race pressure on Azcona, despite going wide and briefly losing a place to team-mate Ma Qing Hua on lap 11, but couldn’t find a way past, and had to settle for seventh.
Wall Racing’s Néstor Girolami pipped Ma for eighth on the run to the line, the Honda ace coming from 19th on the grid after his race two retirement.
The top ten was completed by Ma and the other Wall Racing Honda of Tony D’Alberto, the latter having benefitted when Sweeny went deep into Turn 2 on the penultimate lap and lost two places.
Sweeny was thus 11th, having actually run in ninth for most of the race, ahead of Cyan’s Santiago Urrutia in 12th, the Uruguayan also coming from the back of the grid.
Ashley Seward Motorsport’s Tom Oliphant lost two places on the penultimate lap in the bunching pack behind Azcona and was 13th, ahead of the Purple Sector Audi of Lachlan Mineeff.
Friday’s pole-sitter Ben Bargwanna again retired from the race, despite the team changing the turbo on his Peugeot in a search for the problem which caused his race two misfire.
Kody Garland failed to start any of the weekend’s races as a result of a crash in Friday practice.
The next TCR World Tour / TCR Australia event is at Mount Panorama in Bathurst in less than a week’s time.
Race three result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 179 | WT |  |
Rob HUFF | Audi Sport Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 17 | 27:33.0141 | 1:36.299 | 2 |
| 2 | 105 | WT |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 17 | 4.3310 | 1:36.318 | 4 |
| 3 | 9 | AU |  |
Will BROWN | MPC Team LIQUI MOLY | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 17 | 7.3299 | 1:36.191 | 1 |
| 4 | 122 | WT |  |
Frédéric VERVISCH | Audi Sport Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 17 | 9.4385 | 1:36.280 | 3 |
| 5 | 30 | AU | |
Josh BUCHAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 17 | 12.9729 | 1:36.466 | 9 |
| 6 | 196 | WT |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 17 | 24.9618 | 1:36.028 | 7 |
| 7 | 168 | WT |  |
Yann EHRLACHER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 17 | 25.1915 | 1:36.893 | 5 |
| 8 | 129 | WT |  |
Néstor GIROLAMI | Honda Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 17 | 25.9300 | 1:36.237 | 19 |
| 9 | 155 | WT |  |
MA Qing Hua | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 17 | 25.9717 | 1:36.790 | 11 |
| 10 | 1 | AU | |
Tony D’ALBERTO | Honda Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 17 | 26.0663 | 1:36.893 | 13 |
| 11 | 130 | AU | |
Bailey SWEENY | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 17 | 26.2050 | 1:36.812 | 8 |
| 12 | 112 | WT |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 17 | 26.6346 | 1:36.719 | 22 |
| 13 | 115 | AU | |
Tom OLIPHANT | Autoglym / Ashley Seward Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 17 | 26.9020 | 1:36.856 | 10 |
| 14 | 14 | AU | |
Lachlan MINEEFF | Purple Sector | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 17 | 27.3049 | 1:37.130 | 12 |
| 15 | 111 | WT |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 17 | 28.9423 | 1:37.055 | 15 |
| 16 | 33 | AU | |
Jordan COX | Schaeffler GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 17 | 33.2414 | 1:37.421 | 16 |
| 17 | 110 | AU | |
Zac SOUTAR | Team Soutar Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 17 | 33.6504 | 1:37.694 | 23 |
| 18 | 18 | AU | |
Aaron CAMERON | Team Valvoline GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 17 | 34.0631 | 1:37.301 | 6 |
| 19 | 74 | AU | |
Brad HARRIS | Exclusive Switchboards / Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 17 | 34.7797 | 1:37.362 | 14 |
| 20 | 4 | AU | |
Jimmy CLAIRET | Hangcha Forklifts | Peugeot 308 TCR | 17 | 35.2755 | 1:37.854 | 17 |
| 21 | 22 | AU | |
Iain MCDOUGALL | Challenge Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 17 | 54.5130 | 1:38.815 | 21 |
| 22 | 76 | AU | |
Will HARRIS | Exclusive Switchboards / Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 17 | 1:21.9377 | 1:38.075 | 20 |
| R | 71 | AU | |
Ben BARGWANNA | Burson Auto Parts Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | DNF | 1:38.022 | 18 |
| NS | 41 | AU | |
Kody GARLAND | Valvoline Racing GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | – | DNS | N/A | – |