GRM’s Ryan Casha and Wall Racing’s Tony D’Alberto were the victors in Sunday’s TCR Australia races at the Queensland Raceway, with the latter following up on his Saturday win to end the weekend as the top scorer.
Race two
After finishing tenth in Saturday’s opening race, Casha started the reverse-grid second race from pole position, with Wall Racing’s Will Harris alongside.
At the start, Casha pulled into a clear lead in his Peugeot, with Harris only holding on to second for a couple of laps before rapidly losing places.
After GRM’s Jordan Cox got by Harris on lap three, the floodgates opened, and by the end of the next lap Harris had slipped a further four places back.
In the close-quarters racing, HMO Customer Racing’s Tom Oliphant then made contact with GRM’s Ben Bargwanna at Turn 3, which knocked the latter into fellow Peugeot racer Aaron Cameron.
The incident consigned both Bargwanna and Cameron to the bottom two places, with Cameron having picked up a puncture, whilst Oliphant received a drive-through penalty for the incident – something the Brit was furious about.
At the front, with Harris’ out of second, it was Cox leading the charge, but he was never really able to challenge Casha for the win, who scored his maiden victory by a margin of over two seconds from his stablemate.
HMO Customer Racing’s Josh Buchan completed the podium, ahead of D’Alberto in fourth, the 2022 champion having made up five places on the opening lap alone. D’Alberto’s result ensured he would start the final race from pole, with the largest points tally from the opening two races.
Brad Harris took the chequered flag in fifth, ahead of the Audi of Tufflift Racing’s Zac Soutar in sixth, the result keeping him in the championship lead.
After failing to get away from the line in Saturday’s opening race, Ashley Seward Motorsport’s Dylan O’Keeffe made it to the finish this time around, bringing his Lynk & Co home in seventh, ahead of Will Harris in eighth.
Race two result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 79 |  |
Ryan CASHA | Team Valvoline GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 21 | 29:55.8896 | 1:15.157 | 1 | |
| 2 | 33 | |
Jordan COX | Schaeffler GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 21 | 2.351 | 1:15.248 | 3 | |
| 3 | 1 | |
Josh BUCHAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 21 | 2.714 | 1:15.170 | 5 | |
| 4 | 2 | |
Tony D’ALBERTO | Honda Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 21 | 3.486 | 1:15.104 | 10 | |
| 5 | 74 | |
Brad HARRIS | Exclusive Switchboards | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 21 | 5.192 | 1:15.202 | 6 | |
| 6 | 110 | |
Zac SOUTAR | Tufflift Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 21 | 7.998 | 1:15.409 | 8 | |
| 7 | 11 | |
Dylan O’KEEFFE | Autoglym / Ashley Seward Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 21 | 8.456 | 1:15.378 | 13 | |
| 8 | 76 | |
Will HARRIS | Exclusive Switchboards | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 21 | 18.553 | 1:15.876 | 2 | |
| 9 | 99 |  |
Ben STEWART | 99motorsport / Flamingro | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 21 | 20.763 | 1:15.910 | 12 | |
| 10 | 29 |  |
Glenn NIRWAN | Tufflift Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 21 | 28.638 | 1:16.052 | 11 | |
| 11 | 15 | T |  |
Tom OLIPHANT | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 21 | 36.587 | 1:14.992 | 7 |
| 12 | 71 | T | |
Ben BARGWANNA | Hangcha Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 21 | 1:14.382 | 1:16.589 | 4 |
| 13 | 18 | T | |
Aaron CAMERON | Team Valvoline GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 19 | + 2 LAPS | 1:15.358 | 9 |
Race three
Having amassed the highest points score from the opening two races, D’Alberto found himself starting on pole for the final race, with points leader Soutar alongside.
At the start, whilst D’Alberto was able to hold on to his lead, his main initial challenge came from the fast-starting Hyundai of Buchan, who leapt from fourth on the grid to second past Soutar.
Buchan himself soon had to turn to defence though, and within a couple of corners, Soutar was back in front at Turn 3.
Thereafter, though, the battle at the front cooled, as D’Alberto was able to score a lights-to-flag victory and win his third race of the season (his second of the weekend), although his victory at Symmons Plains earlier in the year saw no points awarded.
Soutar took second and with it continues to lead the championship standings over Buchan, whilst the podium was completed by his closest challenger, with the top three positions having not changed since the opening lap.
Cox held fourth initially, having jumped two places at the start, but was passed by Cameron for the place on lap six, starting a gradual slide backwards for the Peugeot driver.
Cameron himself came under late-race pressure from a fired-up Oliphant, who had started in seventh, and on lap 18 the Brit took fourth with a dive at Turn 4, completing a feisty drive that saw him pick off three cars during the race.
Fifth therefore went to Cameron, ahead of the Lynk & Co of O’Keeffe in sixth, who had deprived Cox of the place three laps from the finish, leaving Cox to take the chequered flag in seventh.
Bargwanna was eighth, with the top ten completed by Brad Harris and race two winner Casha, the latter having slipped back a place at the start and dropped to tenth by the seventh lap, lacking early pace in his Peugeot.
The only retirement of the race was Indonesian Glenn Nirwan, who made contact with Will Harris at Turn 4 and suffered suspension damage to his Audi.
Race three result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 2 | |
Tony D’ALBERTO | Honda Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 21 | 29:58.8661 | 1:15.058 | 1 | |
| 2 | 110 | |
Zac SOUTAR | Tufflift Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 21 | 0.834 | 1:14.943 | 2 | |
| 3 | 1 | |
Josh BUCHAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 21 | 1.285 | 1:14.979 | 4 | |
| 4 | 15 | |
Tom OLIPHANT | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 21 | 1.808 | 1:14.836 | 7 | |
| 5 | 18 | |
Aaron CAMERON | Team Valvoline GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 21 | 2.791 | 1:14.926 | 8 | |
| 6 | 11 | |
Dylan O’KEEFFE | Autoglym / Ashley Seward Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 21 | 5.505 | 1:14.983 | 13 | |
| 7 | 33 | |
Jordan COX | Schaeffler GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 21 | 8.000 | 1:15.153 | 6 | |
| 8 | 71 | |
Ben BARGWANNA | Hangcha Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 21 | 8.232 | 1:14.948 | 10 | |
| 9 | 74 | |
Brad HARRIS | Exclusive Switchboards | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 21 | 9.875 | 1:15.146 | 3 | |
| 10 | 79 | |
Ryan CASHA | Team Valvoline GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 21 | 11.624 | 1:15.175 | 5 | |
| 11 | 76 | |
Will HARRIS | Exclusive Switchboards | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 21 | 19.910 | 1:15.606 | 9 | |
| 12 | 99 | |
Ben STEWART | 99motorsport / Flamingro | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 21 | 21.914 | 1:15.669 | 12 | |
| R | 29 | |
Glenn NIRWAN | Tufflift Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 5 | DNF | 1:16.087 | 11 |