Jason Bright expects the battle at the front of the TCR Australia field to get ‘better and closer’ as the inaugural season progresses, after the Alliance Autosport claimed victory in the first-ever race at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Bright claimed victory in Saturday morning’s new dawn for TCR in Australia, the 46-year-old getting the jump on pole-sitter Tony D’Alberto when the lights went out at the start of the race.
Bright led comfortably thereafter, holding a two-second advantage throughout in his Volkswagen Golf GTi as D’Alberto fought to keep his Honda ahead of Will Brown’s Hyundai.
Having claimed the first-ever win, Bright was relieved to claim the win, especially after having been unhappy with the feel of his car during Friday’s practice sessions.
“It’s been a busy few weeks for all the teams; no one really knew where they were going to sit,” said Bright. “We’ve worked as hard as anyone and I feel like I’ve found a sweet spot in the setup and the car’s been strong all day.
“We won the start and then built a nice lead on Tony and Will and to be able to control the race was pretty satisfying.
“We weren’t happy with where we were after practice yesterday. There was some clarification in the rules so we were able to take more weight out of the car for today, so it goes to show how critical it is to get all those little things right because of how tight the field is.”
The former Supercars racer and race-winner believes that the battle at the front of the field will close up as he and his rivals get used to the front-wheel drive TCR racing.
“The battle up front was great and I’m sure that will get better and closer as everyone learns more about these great cars.
“The two races tomorrow will be pretty intense, obviously there’s a fair bit riding on the start and we made a good one today but that’s no guarantee we’ll make a good one tomorrow.
“I’m sure Tony and Will are going to improve overnight so we’ll try and lead into turn one again and hopefully control the race like we did today.”