HMO Customer Racing’s josh Buchan consolidated the TCR Australia championship lead he had assumed earlier in the day by holding off Ashley Seward Motorsport’s Dylan O’Keeffe for victory in the final race at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Buchan started the final race of the day from pole position after having amassed the highest points score in the first two races of the weekend, with O’Keeffe alongside in his Lynk & Co.
However, at the start, O’Keeffe was swamped away from the line after making a poor start and dropping down to sixth, allowing Buchan to sweep into a comfortable early lead.
O’Keeffe dropped as low as sixth, although he regained a place by Turn 2 and ended the opening lap in fifth, as Buchan’s early challenge came from the Wall Racing Honda of Brad Harris.
O’Keeffe made contact with the other Wall Racing Honda of Will Harris on the approach to Turn 7, resulting in Harris spinning across the circuit and, ultimately, out of the race, after he limped to the pitlane to call it a day after that. The incident will be looked at by the stewards after the race.
Undeterred, O’Keeffe picked off Jordan Cox’s Peugeot for third on lap four, and set about closing the gap to the sole remaining Honda of Brad Harris ahead.
By lap eight, O’Keeffe had caught Harris and he made his move exiting the final corner, completing a pass for second into Turn 1 at the start of the ninth tour.
By this stage, Buchan had built a lead of over two seconds and, despite closing down the deficit, O’Keeffe couldn’t quite find a way past the leading Hyundai, having to settle for second, four tenths back, as Buchan took his second win of the weekend.
With erstwhile points leader Zac Soutar having retired from race two and only managing eighth in race three in his repaired Audi, Buchan has leapfrogged into the championship lead ahead of next month’s finale at Bathurst.
GRM’s Aaron Cameron completed the podium in third, initially passing team-mate Jordan Cox for fourth going onto lap five, before picking off Brad Harris for third on lap eight into Turn 4 with some light contact.
Cameron brought his car to the finish, despite nursing light bodywork damage which was rubbing on his tyre in the closing laps.
Brad Harris was thus fourth, ahead of HMO Customer Racing’s Tom Oliphant in fifth, the Brit spending much of the race running in sixth before Cox retired from the race on lap 12.
Cox’s retirement – a mechanical issue on his new Peugeot – marks a blow to his title challenge, which had been reinvigorated after he gave the new Peugeot its maiden win in race two.
Ryan Casha was sixth, ahead of Ben Bargwanna, Zac Soutar and Glenn Nirwan.
Tony D’Alberto failed to start the race due to the damage sustained to his Wall Racing Honda in race two.
The season finale takes place at Mount Panorama in Bathurst on 9 – 10 November.
Race three result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 1 |  |
Josh BUCHAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 16 | 30:10.5374 | 1:36.606 | 1 | |
| 2 | 11 | |
Dylan O’KEEFFE | Autoglym / Ashley Seward Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 16 | 0.403 | 1:36.560 | 2 | |
| 3 | 18 | |
Aaron CAMERON | Team Valvoline GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 16 | 2.251 | 1:36.533 | 11 | |
| 4 | 74 | |
Brad HARRIS | Exclusive Switchboards | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 16 | 9.822 | 1:37.175 | 3 | |
| 5 | 15 |  |
Tom OLIPHANT | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 16 | 12.230 | 1:37.071 | 9 | |
| 6 | 79 | |
Ryan CASHA | Team Valvoline GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 16 | 13.690 | 1:37.669 | 7 | |
| 7 | 71 | |
Ben BARGWANNA | Hangcha Racing | Peugeot 308 P51 TCR | 16 | 19.405 | 1:37.681 | 6 | |
| 8 | 110 | |
Zac SOUTAR | Tufflift Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 16 | 30.166 | 1:38.460 | 10 | |
| 9 | 29 |  |
Glenn NIRWAN | Tufflift Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 16 | 33.214 | 1:38.279 | 8 | |
| R | 33 | |
Jordan COX | Schaeffler GRM | Peugeot 308 P51 TCR | 12 | DNF | 1:37.177 | 4 | |
| R | 76 | |
Will HARRIS | Exclusive Switchboards | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 1 | DNF | 6:30.032 | 5 | |
| NS | 2 | |
Tony D’ALBERTO | Honda Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | – | DNS | N/A | 12 |