Ben Bargwanna claims spoils in opening race of the season at Sandown

Ben Bargwanna claimed a comfortable victory in the opening TCR Australia race of the season at Sandown, fighting his way into the lead on the opening lap and then keeping Josh Buchan at bay thereafter for the win.

Reigning champion Buchan had earlier claimed the opening pole position of the season by qualifying his HMO Customer Racing Hyundai less than a tenth of a second ahead of Zac Soutar’s Audi.

At the start of the race, Soutar looked to take the lead into the first corner, but after he went too deep it allowed Bargwanna’s Peugeot into second.

Bargwanna then dived for the lead at the final corner, as Buchan had to settle for second.

As the early part of the race progressed, Buchan was able to keep close to the leading Peugeot, with third-placed Aaron Cameron gradually drifting away from the lead battle.

However, in the final half of the race, Bargwanna pulled over four seconds clear of Buchan, taking a comfortable win and his second-ever victory in the championship.

Cameron had looked set to complete the podium, but just three laps from the end his Peugeot slowed, which allowed Wall Racing’s Tony D’Alberto to claim the final podium place.

D’Alberto had got past Soutar on the second lap of the race, staying ahead of the Audi for the rest of the distance, with Soutar ultimately having to settle for fourth after a scruffy opening lap.

Perhaps the drive of the race came from Jordan Cox, who started from last due to a drive issue in qualifying which prevented him posting a time. Making up ten places over the course of the race, Cox was up to tenth by lap seven and then steadily picked off those ahead of him to claim fifth.

Brad Harris was sixth in his new Honda, ahead of series rookie Ryan Casha in seventh in the second of the GRM Valvoline-liveried Peugeots.

Carl Cox Motorsport’s Clay Richards was eighth, having been involved in a tight battle in the closing laps with Ashley Seward Motorsport’s Dylan O’Keeffe, Wall Raving’s John Martin and HMO’s Tom Oliphant.

On lap 13, Oliphant had briefly taken ninth, before being passed back by both Richards and O’Keeffe. The group were battling hard to be in the top ten to ensure they benefitted from the grid reversal for Sunday’s second race.

In the end, it was series returnee Martin who took tenth, giving the Honda driver pole for race two, with 11^th-placed Oliphant just missing out after Martin passed him on the penultimate lap.

Iain McDougall was the only retirement of the race. Series newcomer, Indonesian Glenn Nirwan, had an eventful race, twice going off the circuit to ultimately finish a lap down.

Races two and three take place on Sunday.

Race results

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP	GD
1	71			Ben BARGWANNA	Hangcha Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	21	26:39.6037	1:15.645	3
2	1			Josh BUCHAN	HMO Customer Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	21	5.942	1:15.644	1
3	2			Tony D’ALBERTO	Honda Wall Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	21	12.209	1:15.934	5
4	110			Zac SOUTAR	Tufflift Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	21	13.245	1:16.028	2
5	33			Jordan COX	Schaeffler GRM	Peugeot 308 TCR	21	16.585	1:16.220	15
6	74			Brad HARRIS	Exclusive Switchboards	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	21	18.721	1:16.022	8
7	79			Ryan CASHA	Team Valvoline GRM	Peugeot 308 TCR	21	19.175	1:16.112	4
8	4			Clay RICHARDS	Carl Cox Motorsport Team MPC	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	21	21.018	1:16.278	7
9	11			Dylan O’KEEFFE	Autoglym / Ashley Seward Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	21	21.870	1:16.183	10
10	76			John MARTIN	Exclusive Switchboards	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	21	27.315	1:16.470	11
11	15			Tom OLIPHANT	HMO Customer Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	21	29.059	1:16.484	12
12	99			Marcus LADELLE	Beyond Constructions 99 Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	21	38.727	1:16.842	13
13	18			Aaron CAMERON	Team Valvoline GRM	Peugeot 308 TCR	21	48.460	1:15.777	6
14	29			Glenn NIRWAN	Tufflift Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	20	+ 1 LAP	1:17.556	14
R	22			Iain MCDOUGALL	Challenge Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	5	DNF	1:17.864	9