HMO Customer Racing’s Will Brown took a dominant victory in the second TCR Australia race at Winton, as his chief championship rival Dylan O’Keeffe suffered with a puncture.
At the start, Saturday’s race winner and pole-sitter Jason Bright led the field, with Brown piling on the pressure in second. Further back, back-row starter James Moffat made contact with the rear wheel of Andre Heimgartner’s Holden, spinning the Renault out on the start line but without significant damage.
At the front, Hyundai driver Brown then made his move for the lead at Turn 3 on lap two, passing Bright who was pushing his Volkswagen to the track limits and beyond in his attempt to stay in front.
Brown then romped away to a comfortable 7.9 second win over Bright, extending his points lead in the process to a huge 93 points over his closest rival.
Bright held on to second to score his second podium finish of the weekend, whilst Melbourne Performance VW driver Aaron Cameron completed the podium after passing HMO’s Nathan Morcom at the final corner on the penultimate lap.
Morcom, who had been in a podium position for much of the race, had to settle for fourth, ahead of the leading Audi of Russell Ingall in fifth.
Andre Heimgartner returned to top ten form by taking sixth in the best Kelly Racing Holden, ahead of the leading Honda of Tony D’Alberto in seventh and team-mate John Martin in eighth.
GRM’s Jordan Cox and Melbourne Performance’s Liam McAdam completed the top ten in their Alfa Romeo and Audi cars respectively.
Disaster struck for championship challenger Dylan O’Keeffe just three laps from home when he picked up a puncture whilst running in fifth. The Alfa Romeo driver was thrown through the gravel and had to pit for new front-left rubber, re-joining to only finish in 15th.
Race three gets underway at 14:20 local time (05:20 BST, 06:20 CEST).
Race result
POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
1 | 30 | Will BROWN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 18 | 25:20.2668 | 1:24.896 | 2 | |
2 | 8 | Jason BRIGHT | Taskforce / Alliance Autosport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 18 | 7.905 | 1:25.361 | 1 | |
3 | 16 | Aaron CAMERON | Melbourne Performance | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 18 | 9.296 | 1:25.434 | 5 | |
4 | 11 | Nathan MORCOM | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 18 | 10.413 | 1:25.394 | 4 | |
5 | 100 | Russell INGALL | Melbourne Performance | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 18 | 14.636 | 1:25.473 | 8 | |
6 | 777 | Andre HEIMGARTNER | Kelly Racing | Holden Astra TCR | 18 | 18.715 | 1:26.014 | 7 | |
7 | 50 | Tony D’ALBERTO | Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 18 | 21.027 | 1:26.057 | 6 | |
8 | 24 | John MARTIN | Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 18 | 21.364 | 1:25.955 | 14 | |
9 | 38 | Jordan COX | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 18 | 22.403 | 1:25.940 | 17 | |
10 | 97 | Liam MCADAM | Melbourne Performance | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 18 | 22.838 | 1:26.095 | 10 | |
11 | 3 | Leanne TANDER | Melbourne Performance | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 18 | 24.780 | 1:26.070 | 12 | |
12 | 34 | James MOFFAT | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 18 | 26.279 | 1:25.671 | 18 | |
13 | 22 | Hamish RIBARITS | Kelly Racing | Holden Astra TCR | 18 | 31.965 | 1:25.657 | 16 | |
14 | 35 | Alexandra WHITLEY | Alliance Autosport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 18 | 45.403 | 1:26.115 | 13 | |
15 | 9 | Dylan O’KEEFFE | Ashley Seward Motorsport | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 17 | + 1 LAP | 1:25.463 | 3 | |
16 | 38 | Tim BROOK | Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 17 | + 1 LAP | 1:25.676 | 9 | |
R | 6 | Molly TAYLOR | Kelly Racing | Subaru WRX STi | 15 | DNF | 1:27.234 | 11 | |
R | 37 | Bryce FULLWOOD | Kelly Racing | Subaru WRX STi | 12 | DNF | 1:26.348 | 15 | |
R | 33 | Chris PITHER | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 11 | DNF | 1:26.157 | 19 |