HMO Customer Racing’s Josh Buchan secured his second lights-to-flag TCR Australia win in three races at Phillip Island, heading Michael Clemente in the final race of the weekend.
Buchan, who had qualified his Hyundai Elantra N on pole on Saturday before winning the opening race with ease, again put in a dominant display to leave the second event of the year as the highest scorer.
The 27-year-old made a strong start to lead into the first corner, with Clemente, who had earlier claimed his first win in the second race, holding second.
GRM’s Ben Bargwanna completed the podium, with the order for the rostrum having been set at the start in what was ultimately a relatively quiet race just before sunset.
Jordan Cox, who had come close to a win in race two, brought his Peugeot home in fourth, having held the position throughout the race.
HMO’s Bailey Sweeny fought past Aaron Cameron for fifth on the third lap and held the place thereafter, with Cameron having to settle for sixth.
Zac Soutar ascended three places during the race, gaining a place past the slow-starting Kody Garland off the line, before passing Lachlan Mineeff’s older-generation Audi on lap four for eighth.
He then passed Will Brown’s second-generation RS3 for seventh on the following lap, holding the position to the chequered flag.
Remarkably for Brown, eighth is his best result of the season thus far, but the 2019 champion had to pass five cars in order to record that result.
The top ten was completed by Ashley Seward Motorsport’s Tom Oliphant, who had a slow start to his switch to Lynk & Co machinery, and Mineeff in tenth.
Reigning champion Tony D’Alberto continued to struggle in his Honda, finishing 11th, whilst Garland was 12th and newcomer Brad Harris 13th and last, having gone off the track whilst running in the top ten early on.
Race results
POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP | GD |
1 | 30 | Josh BUCHAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 14 | 23:12.7232 | 1:38.420 | 1 | ||
2 | 15 | Michael CLEMENTE | Michael Clemente Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 14 | 0.939 | 1:38.577 | 2 | ||
3 | 71 | Ben BARGWANNA | Burson Auto Parts Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 14 | 2.335 | 1:38.531 | 3 | ||
4 | 33 | Jordan COX | Schaeffler GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 14 | 3.227 | 1:38.540 | 6 | ||
5 | 130 | Bailey SWEENY | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 3.762 | 1:38.625 | 4 | ||
6 | 18 | Aaron CAMERON | Team Valvoline GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 14 | 4.718 | 1:38.814 | 5 | ||
7 | 110 | Zac SOUTAR | Team Soutar Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 5.452 | 1:38.511 | 10 | ||
8 | 9 | Will BROWN | MPC Team Liqui Moly | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 8.459 | 1:38.509 | 13 | ||
9 | 115 | Tom OLIPHANT | Ashley Seward Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 14 | 8.694 | 1:38.540 | 11 | ||
10 | 14 | Lachlan MINEEFF | Forza Brakes Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 14 | 9.614 | 1:38.815 | 8 | ||
11 | 1 | Tony D’ALBERTO | Honda Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 14 | 13.476 | 1:38.875 | 12 | ||
12 | 41 | Kody GARLAND | Valvoline Racing GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 14 | 19.244 | 1:39.067 | 9 | ||
13 | 74 | Brad HARRIS | Exclusive Switchboards | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 14 | 27.712 | 1:39.469 | 7 |