The liveries for the brand new Peugeot 308 P51 TCR cars of Ben Bargwanna and Jordan Cox have been unveiled, ahead of the car’s first-ever race meeting at Sydney Motorsport Park this weekend.
Garry Rogers Motorsport has recently completed the build of the newest TCR model in the world, ready to make it’s global début in Sydney.
Bargwanna was the first driver to get behind the wheel of the new car when it undertook testing at Sandown last month.
“It’s a new opportunity, it’s something we’ve been looking forward to for a very long time,” said Bargwanna. “We finally get the chance to shake down the new Peugeot and I’m very optimistic about what the weekend will bring.
“It is a bit of a ball in the air type situation; we’re not exactly sure how it will go but I’m excited. I can’t wait to just get out there in practice one and finally turn some laps in Sydney.
“If you go from the rear taillight to the front headlight, basically everything is different to the old car so there’s going to be a lot to learn for sure.
“There’s a lot that we need to understand about it, which will take a while but that’s all part of it.”
Cox sits slightly higher than Bargwanna in the drivers’ standings, in third overall, albeit just 15 points ahead, and drove the car for the first time in a shakedown session at Calder Park Raceway this week.
“We’re expecting a good and solid consistent performance,” said Cox. “It’s still very much early days for this car, so it’s foolish to think we’d be getting the most out of it.
“On paper, the spec of the P51 is much better than the previous generation. We’d hope to be fighting for the podium position at least and then have something to build on for the next event at Bathurst.
“The tuning ability of the car and the drivability are two areas that we should really notice a difference.
“GRM did a great job of tuning the last car up to the maximum of its performance ceiling, and along the way we learnt the limitations of that car.
“The luxury of building a new car is knowing what we need to improve on. It already looks like the team have done a great job of that. How that translates on track, we’ll find out soon.”
