Ehrlacher wins to draw level at top of standings as Buchan claims Australian title

Yann Ehrlacher scored a comfortable victory in the final TCR World Tour / TCR Australia race of the weekend at Bathurst, moving to be the joint leader of the World Tour drivers’ standings, as Josh Buchan clinched the TCR Australia title.

At the start, Ehrlacher pulled alongside pole-sitter Urrutia to move to the outside line at Turn 1, giving him the inside line for Turn 2 to secure the lead.

Ehrlacher then headed a Cyan Racing 1-2-3 for the first part of the race, his team-mates not challenging him as the Frenchman looked to take maximum advantage of his rear gunners for his TCR World Tour championship challenge.

Urrutia was second early on, but on lap five the Uruguayan made a mistake at Quarry Corner, sliding into the barriers and breaking the left-rear suspension on his Lynk & Co.

Urrutia was able to limp back to the pits to avoid a safety car, but the extensive damage meant he was out of the race.

Thed Björk thus assumed second, the Swede having got ahead of Wall Racing’s Tony D’Alberto at the start, to score a second successive podium finish.

The race ultimately finished behind the safety car, for a trio of reasons. Firstly, GRM’s Jordan Cox had stopped on track at The Chase, with flames emanating from the exhaust of his Peugeot. As that was recovered, on the next lap Aaron Cameron stopped by the pit exit with a suspected overheating issue, dropping out of 11^th and fourth in TCR Australia.

Then, just as it looked likely the race was going to resume for a one lap sprint, Mikel Azcona crashed into the wall at Forrest’s Elbow whilst still under safety car conditions in a bizarre accident that broke his right-front suspension.

For Azcona, the bizarre accident means he didn’t score any points and even though his title chances were looking slim, the shunt officially rules him out of contention.

The race therefore finished under safety car conditions, the final three laps being a procession to the flag.

Comtoyou Racing’s Rob Huff completed the podium, having tucked in behind Björk as both passed D’Alberto into Turn 2 on the opening lap. The Brit then stayed behind Björk for the rest of the eight laps of racing, enough to leave him as the joint leader of the drivers’ standings leaving Australia.

D’Alberto was fourth and thus won in TCR Australia – his second of the weekend – elevating the outgoing champion to third overall in the national series’ drivers’ standings.

BRC Racing’s Norbert Michelisz was fifth, completing a solid weekend for the Hungarian, although he has narrowly lost the lead of the TCR World Tour driver’s standings and now sits a point behind Ehrlacher and Huff.

Wall Racing’s Néstor Girolami was sixth, ahead of the second Comtoyou Audi of Frédéric Vervisch in seventh.

Despite a valiant drive from near the back of the field to eighth, and second overall in TCR Australia, it was not enough for Bailey Sweeny to prevent HMO Customer Racing team-mate Buchan taking the drivers’ title.

Buchan had once again seemingly struggled for pace in the race – at one stage dropping as low as 15^th – but the Hyundai driver did enough to finish 12^th by the chequered flag, fifth in the domestic rankings, to take a maiden TCR title.

The top ten was completed by the Audi of Zac Soutar and the remaining Cyan Racing Lynk & Co of Ma Qing Hua.

Melbourne Performance Centre’s Will Brown failed to take the start after his race two driveshaft failure, along with the two FK7 Honda Civics of Brad Harris and Will Harris.

In the TCR world Tour standings, Huff and Ehrlacher head to next weekend’s Macau finale tied on 384 points, with Michelisz just one point behind in third. Azcona is fourth, a further 82 points adrift, and therefore now officially out of contention.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	168	WT		Yann EHRLACHER	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	11	31:59.8375	2:16.216	2
2	111	WT		Thed BJÖRK	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	11	0.502	2:16.229	4
3	179	WT		Rob HUFF	Audi Sport Comtoyou	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	11	1.300	2:16.550	5
4	1	AU		Tony D’ALBERTO	Honda Wall Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	11	1.663	2:16.155	3
5	105	WT		Norbert MICHELISZ	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	11	2.122	2:16.428	6
6	129	WT		Néstor GIROLAMI	Honda Wall Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	11	2.785	2:15.896	7
7	122	WT		Frédéric VERVISCH	Audi Sport Comtoyou	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	11	3.237	2:15.902	9
8	130	AU		Bailey SWEENY	HMO Customer Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	11	3.600	2:16.275	17
9	110	AU		Zac SOUTAR	Team Soutar Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	11	3.999	2:17.255	11
10	155	WT		MA Qing Hua	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	11	4.456	2:17.931	12
11	71	AU		Ben BARGWANNA	Burson Auto Parts Racing	Peugeot 308 TCR	11	5.551	2:17.213	20
12	30	AU		Josh BUCHAN	HMO Customer Racing	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	11	6.002	2:18.106	10
13	15	AU		Michael CLEMENTE	Carl Cox Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	11	8.215	2:17.526	21
14	22	AU		Iain MCDOUGALL	Challenge Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	11	8.728	2:18.833	16
15	115	AU		Tom OLIPHANT	Autoglym / Ashley Seward Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	11	9.984	2:18.740	14
16	14	AU		Lachlan MINEEFF	Purple Sector	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	11	10.275	2:18.438	15
R	196	WT		Mikel AZCONA	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	9	DNF	2:17.021	19
R	18	AU		Aaron CAMERON	Team Valvoline GRM	Peugeot 308 TCR	8	DNF	2:16.894	8
R	33	AU		Jordan COX	Schaeffler GRM	Peugeot 308 TCR	6	DNF	2:16.792	13
R	4	AU		Teddy CLAIRET	Hangcha Forklifts	Peugeot 308 TCR	5	DNF	2:19.493	18
R	112	WT		Santiago URRUTIA	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	4	DNF	2:16.298	1
NS	74	AU		Brad HARRIS	Exclusive Switchboards / Wall Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	–	DNS	N/A	–
NS	9	AU		Will BROWN	MPC Team LIQUI MOLY	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	–	DNS	N/A	–
NS	76	AU		Will HARRIS	Exclusive Switchboards / Wall Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	–	DNS	N/A	–