Zac Soutar claimed a crucial lights-to-flag win in the opening TCR Australia race at Mount Panorama, as title rival Josh Buchan could only manage third on Saturday.
Soutar had earlier qualified his Audi on pole to bag an additional six points, two more than Buchan, and start to narrow the points gap to his rival, which stood at 36 points heading into the event.
At the start, Soutar eased away as fellow front-row starter was slow away from the line and passed by HMO Customer Racing’s Buchan.
Ashley Seward Motorsport’s Dylan O’Keeffe then took advantage of the door being open to squeeze inside Harris into the first corner, forcing Harris wide onto the grass and dropping him a further two places behind his brother Brad Harris.
O’Keeffe then took advantage of Buchan having a look at Soutar on the outside line into The Dipper to get inside the Hyundai for second, completing the move at the end of the Conrod Straight into The chase.
Thereafter the race was quiet at the front, with Soutar winning by over three seconds from the Lynk & Co of O’Keeffe, who had held station after his strong opening lap.
By completing the podium in third, Buchan limited the points loss to Soutar, with the margin between the duo now standing at 28 points ahead of Sunday’s final two races of the season.
“It’s such a massive effort by my team and supporters that follow me around,” said race winner Soutar.
“It was a tough race; I was in my own thoughts for most of it. I just had to keep concentrating, the car was a jet, so it was great.
“I knew it was an important start to get right. I think I’ll sleep pretty well tonight. I’ll give it my all tomorrow and we’ll see what happens.”
Wall Racing’s Brad Harris had finished fourth on the road but was handed a five-second penalty for being out of position at the start. That dropped the Honda driver behind HMO Customer Racing’s Tom Oliphant, who claimed fourth having moved up one place from his starting position when Will Harris fell back on the second lap.
Brad Harris was thus classified in fifth, ahead of the leading new Peugeot of Jordan Cox in sixth, as all of the new GRM-built machines which made the start had a low-key race.
Ryan Casha was seventh on his first outing in the new P51 Peugeot, ahead of Ben Bargwanna in eighth.
Aaron Cameron had failed to take the start, pulling into the pits at the end of the formation lap with a power steering issue on his new 308.
Will Harris was ninth after a challenging run on his first appearance in the new Honda Civic FL5 which was previously campaigned by Tony D’Alberto.
D’Alberto had a few weeks ago confirmed he would not take part in the season finale, having called time on his TCR Australia campaign along with Honda Australia and confirmed he would not return in 2025.
Kiwi rookie Blake Knowles was the final classified finisher in tenth, the 99motorsport racer driving the oldest first-generation TCR car in the field. Knowles will, however, start race two from pole position, the reverse grid race inverting the top ten finishers on Saturday.
The TCR Australia title thus goes to the wire between Buchan and Soutar on Sunday, with 85 points still up for grabs. Race two takes place at 10:05 AEDT (23:10 GMT, 00:10 CET), followed by race three at 14:10 AEDT (03:10 GMT, 04:10 CET).
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 110 |  |
Zac SOUTAR | Tufflift Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 11 | 30:01.9229 | 2:15.861 | 1 | |
| 2 | 11 | |
Dylan O’KEEFFE | Autoglym / Ashley Seward Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 11 | 3.072 | 2:15.972 | 5 | |
| 3 | 1 | |
Josh BUCHAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 11 | 6.792 | 2:16.457 | 3 | |
| 4 | 15 |  |
Tom OLIPHANT | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 9.719 | 2:16.422 | 6 | |
| 5 | 74 | |
Brad HARRIS | Exclusive Switchboards | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 11 | 14.109 | 2:16.526 | 4 | |
| 6 | 33 | |
Jordan COX | Schaeffler GRM | Peugeot 308 P51 TCR | 11 | 19.999 | 2:17.296 | 7 | |
| 7 | 79 | |
Ryan CASHA | Team Valvoline GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 23.547 | 2:17.372 | 11 | |
| 8 | 71 | |
Ben BARGWANNA | Hangcha Racing | Peugeot 308 P51 TCR | 11 | 31.024 | 2:17.348 | 8 | |
| 9 | 76 | |
Will HARRIS | Exclusive Switchboards | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 11 | 33.600 | 2:16.519 | 2 | |
| 10 | 99 |  |
Blake KNOWLES | 99motorsport / Pacific Fuel | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 36.000 | 2:18.724 | 9 | |
| R | 18 | |
Aaron CAMERON | Team Valvoline GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 10 |