Zac Soutar claimed his second-ever TCR Australia victory in the reversed-grid second race at The Bend Motorsport Park, in a race which featured plenty of action and bumper-to-bumper tin-top racing.
At the start, the Audi racer made a better getaway than pole-sitter Ben Bargwanna, taking the lead into the first corner and soon breaking clear of the chasing pack.
Bargwanna held second for the opening five laps, but Wall Racing’s Brad Harris picked him off on lap six and then held station to claim second to give him a third rostrum visit of the year.
GRM’s Aaron Cameron had jumped two places to fourth at the start, but on lap two he was involved in fierce fighting with Clay Richards and Tony D’Alberto.
Going three-wide through Turn 1, Wall Racing’s D’Alberto appeared to make slight contact with Cameron’s Peugeot ahead, which in turn saw Cameron tap the CUPRA of Richards.
Richards was sent into a slide, collecting D’Alberto in the process and sending the Honda into a spin, with the incident ending Richards’ race and requiring a safety car intervention.
The incident was investigated by the stewards, but no further action was taken.
Just before the race was neutralised further contact followed for HMO Customer Racing’s Josh Buchan, making contact with Cameron and allowing the fast-starting Jordan Cox, who had gained four places at the start, to slip into fifth.
When racing resumed on lap five, Soutar was able to extend an advantage that ultimately grew to over seven seconds by the chequered flag, giving him the championship lead.
Harris claimed second, with Buchan completing the podium after getting past Ryan Casha and Cox on the restart lap.
Casha took fourth, ahead of HMO’s Tom Oliphant in fifth – although the Brit had crossed the line in fourth before being given a five-second penalty for contact with a rival in the race.
Cox was sixth, ahead of Bargwanna in seventh, the latter having faded during the race as he was progressively picked off by his rivals.
Crucially, D’Alberto was classified as a finisher despite a pit stop to address the damage he received early on, giving him points for 13th four laps down.
Race three is scheduled to get underway at 15:50 local time (08:20 CEST, 07:20 BST).
Race two result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 110 |  |
Zac SOUTAR | Tufflift Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 17 | 29:41.3100 | 1:23.346 | 2 | |
| 2 | 74 | |
Brad HARRIS | Exclusive Switchboards | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 17 | 7.515 | 1:23.613 | 4 | |
| 3 | 1 | |
Josh BUCHAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 17 | 7.953 | 1:23.630 | 8 | |
| 4 | 79 | |
Ryan CASHA | Team Valvoline GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 17 | 13.079 | 1:23.835 | 5 | |
| 5 | 15 |  |
Tom OLIPHANT | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 17 | 13.393 | 1:23.210 | 11 | |
| 6 | 33 | |
Jordan COX | Schaeffler GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 17 | 14.413 | 1:23.822 | 10 | |
| 7 | 71 | |
Ben BARGWANNA | Hangcha Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 17 | 15.002 | 1:23.840 | 1 | |
| 8 | 11 | |
Dylan O’KEEFFE | Autoglym / Ashley Seward Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 17 | 16.430 | 1:23.393 | 7 | |
| 9 | 18 | |
Aaron CAMERON | Team Valvoline GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 17 | 16.433 | 1:23.761 | 6 | |
| 10 | 22 | |
Iain MCDOUGALL | Challenge Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 17 | 21.371 | 1:24.526 | 12 | |
| 11 | 29 |  |
Glenn NIRWAN | Tufflift Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 17 | 22.031 | 1:24.560 | 14 | |
| 12 | 76 | |
Will HARRIS | Exclusive Switchboards | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 17 | 26.668 | 1:24.386 | 13 | |
| 13 | 2 | |
Tony D’ALBERTO | Honda Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | + 4 LAPS | 1:24.018 | 9 | |
| R | 4 | |
Clay RICHARDS | Carl Cox Motorsport Team MPC | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 1 | DNF | 4:54.774 | 3 |