GRM’s Aaron Cameron briefly celebrated the victory spoils in the second TCR Australia race of the weekend at Phillip Island, after on-the-road winner Brad Harris was given a time penalty, before Harris was then given the win back in a post-race review.
Harris had started the race from the front row of the grid alongside his brother Will, having been penalised for contact with team-mate Tony D’Alberto in Saturday’s opening race which saw him drop from second to ninth.
With the top ten finishers in race one reversed for the race two grid, one loss became another gain, as he found himself in a prime starting position for Sunday’s first race.
However, Brad Harris found himself in hot water again as soon as – or indeed marginally before – the lights went out, as he was quickly adjudged to have jumped the start.
That meant that whilst he swiftly moved into the lead, his advantage was negated by the looming five-second penalty he would be served. Whilst that penalty stood until shortly after the race, it was later rescinded, giving Harris the victory after all.
As the field went into the opening corner, reigning champion Josh Buchan found himself on the receiving end of contact from the Audi of Glenn Nirwan down in the lower reaches of the top ten.
As Nirwan clipped Buchan’s right-rear wheel he spun, whilst Buchan was out of the race with damage on the rear corner of his HMO Customer Racing Hyundai.
On the opening lap, Will Harris matched his brother’s time penalty when he didn’t give Cameron enough racing room as the Peugeot driver made a move for second away from the line.
Will Harris would be given a five-second time penalty for the move, and his chances of a strong result were further hindered when he went off the circuit whilst defending second further around the lap, dropping him to 11th.
Cameron, meanwhile, found himself in second, with team-mate Ryan Casha having progressed past Tom Oliphant at the start to run just behind Clay Richards CUPRA early on.
On lap five, Casha made a move on Richards to take third, which would become second – and briefly a Valvoline Peugeot 1-2 – when Harris’ penalty was applied, before it was later removed. Casha thus completed the podium behind Cameron in the revised result.
The race ended behind the safety car after Ashley Seward motorsport’s Dylan O’Keeffe went off at the final corner on lap ten due to a front-right puncture on his Lynk & Co, with his stranded car requiring recovery.
Richards initially completed the podium in third, but was eventually classified in fourth after Harris was given the win back.
GRM’s Ben Bargwanna was fifth, although the Peugeot racer was involved in a controversial incident with Oliphant’s Hyundai on lap eight which resulted in contact sending the Brit off the circuit.
Jordan Cox was sixth in his Peugeot, making up more positions than anyone else from 11th on the grid, ahead of Zac Soutar in seventh, the points leader having had a relatively quiet race.
D’Alberto took eighth, with the top ten completed by Oliphant and Will Harris.
Original race result (subsequently revised)
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP | GD |
| 1 | 18 |  |
Aaron CAMERON | Team Valvoline GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 24:55.8180 | 1:36.726 | 3 | |
| 2 | 79 | |
Ryan CASHA | Team Valvoline GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 2.249 | 1:36.579 | 5 | |
| 3 | 4 | |
Clay RICHARDS | Carl Cox Motorsport Team MPC | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 12 | 3.254 | 1:36.806 | 6 | |
| 4 | 74 | |
Brad HARRIS | Exclusive Switchboards | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 12 | 3.990 | 1:36.516 | 2 | |
| 5 | 71 | |
Ben BARGWANNA | Hangcha Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 4.293 | 1:36.563 | 7 | |
| 6 | 33 | |
Jordan COX | Schaeffler GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 5.906 | 1:36.972 | 11 | |
| 7 | 110 | |
Zac SOUTAR | Tufflift Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 7.216 | 1:36.939 | 9 | |
| 8 | 2 | |
Tony D’ALBERTO | Honda Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 12 | 8.343 | 1:36.869 | 14 | |
| 9 | 15 |  |
Tom OLIPHANT | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 10.270 | 1:36.881 | 4 | |
| 10 | 76 | |
Will HARRIS | Exclusive Switchboards | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 12 | 13.580 | 1:37.305 | 1 | |
| 11 | 179 | |
Jude BARGWANNA | Jude Bargwanna Motorsport | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 12 | 35.923 | 1:38.224 | 13 | |
| R | 11 | |
Dylan O’KEEFFE | Autoglym / Ashley Seward Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 9 | DNF | 1:37.104 | 8 | |
| R | 1 | |
Josh BUCHAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 10 | |
| R | 29 |  |
Glenn NIRWAN | Tufflift Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 0 | DNF | N/A | 12 |