Zac Soutar doubles up in final race at The Bend

Zac Soutar doubled up in the final TCR Australia race at The Bend Motorsport Park, after early race leader Jordan Cox threw away the lead on cold tyres.

The grid for the final race was set based on the points scored in the opening two races, with Cox getting a good start to lead into the first corner as Soutar took second from HMO Customer Racing’s Josh Buchan.

Ryan Casha then took fourth from Buchan at the next corner, before a mid-pack concertina effect at Turn 6 then saw a chain of events which required a safety car intervention.

HMO’s Tom Oliphant made contact with the Peugeot of Aaron Cameron going into the corner, turning Cameron around, with the following Audi of Glenn Nirwan unable to avoid the incident.

Nirwan clipped Cameron’s car, immediately breaking the front-right suspension, which required his Audi to be recovered as Cameron limped back to the pits for repairs.

Racing resumed on lap six, and Cox held the field until the last possible moment, making a good restart. Casha claimed third from Brad Harris into the first corner, whilst Buchan regained fourth a few corners later.

At the end of the lap, though, Cox had a huge slide into the final corner on cold tyres – with ambient temperatures just nine degrees Celsius at Tailem Bend – dropping him to fourth and gifting Soutar the lead from Casha and Buchan.

Buchan passed Casha for second a lap later, but by this stage Soutar was already a second and a half to the good at the front.

The reigning champion then set about gradually closing down Soutar over the next nine laps, and by the final tour was all over the back of the Audi, but despite a last-lap look he couldn’t find a way past, resulting in Soutar claiming a third career win in the series.

Second for Buchan kept him on the podium in all three races and meant he scored the most points over the weekend, but Soutar now holds the drivers’ championship lead after the fourth event of the season.

Casha completed the podium in third, earning his third podium visit of the season.

Harris came home in fourth, ahead of Ashley Seward Motorsport’s Dylan O’Keeffe in fifth.

Wall Racing’s Tony D’Alberto was sixth, having got by Cox four laps from the finish with a late dive into the first corner, leaving Cox to take seventh.

A race long battle between Carl Cox Motorsport’s Clay Richards and GRM’s Ben Bargwanna saw the CUPRA racer prevail in eighth ahead of Bargwanna’s Peugeot, with the top ten completed by the Wall Racing Honda of Will Harris, who had threatened to pick up the pieces if the two ahead of him had tangled.

Tom Oliphant retired from the race after the safety car period, succumbing to damage on his Hyundai, whilst Iain McDougall was also a retirement having been caught up in the first lap dramas.

Race three result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	110			Zac SOUTAR	Tufflift Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	16	30:23/2718	1:23.058	3
2	1			Josh BUCHAN	HMO Customer Racing	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	16	0.444	1:22.748	1
3	79			Ryan CASHA	Team Valvoline GRM	Peugeot 308 TCR	16	5.048	1:23.303	5
4	74			Brad HARRIS	Exclusive Switchboards	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	16	5.734	1:23.333	4
5	11			Dylan O’KEEFFE	Autoglym / Ashley Seward Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	16	6.242	1:23.263	7
6	2			Tony D’ALBERTO	Honda Wall Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	16	6.950	1:22.877	6
7	33			Jordan COX	Schaeffler GRM	Peugeot 308 TCR	16	8.467	1:23.399	2
8	4			Clay RICHARDS	Carl Cox Motorsport Team MPC	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	16	12.952	1:23.195	13
9	71			Ben BARGWANNA	Hangcha Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	16	14.872	1:23.517	10
10	76			Will HARRIS	Exclusive Switchboards	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	16	21.126	1:24.006	14
11	18			Aaron CAMERON	Team Valvoline GRM	Peugeot 308 TCR	15	+ 1 LAP	1:23.407	8
R	15			Tom OLIPHANT	HMO Customer Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	5	DNF	2:01.385	9
R	22			Iain MCDOUGALL	Challenge Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	1	DNF	N/A	11
R	29			Glenn NIRWAN	Tufflift Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	0	DNF	N/A	12