WILL BROWN DOUBLES UP IN TCR SUNDAY

Will Brown was the undisputed star during the debut round of TCR Australia at Sydney Motorsport Park. The HMO Hyundai i30 N driver emerged victorious in both races in what turned out to be an highly competitive and somewhat eventful afternoon of racing.

Jason Bright started from pole position after his race 1 win, with Tony D’Alberto off P2. Bright was slow off the line and was quickly swallowed by D’Alberto, Dylan O’Keefe and Brown. O’Keefe moved into the lead at the exit of turn 2 and quickly established a small lead as Brown looked for a way past D’Alberto’s Honda. A brief appearance from the Safety Car bunched the field and helped Brown regain lost ground to the leader.

The DPO/Rondo sponsored HMO Hyundai i30 N driver took the lead with three laps left to run and managed to pull out a small gap to O’Keefe at the chequered flag. Tony D’Alberto held out Jason Bright for 3rd, while Andre Heimgartner finished 5th as he continued to move forward after a slow start to the weekend. John Martin, Michael Almond, Nathan Morcom, Jimmy Vernon and Aaron Cameron rounded out the top 10.

Race 3

Will Brown completed back to back wins with victory in the final race of the weekend, while teammate Nathan Morcom dropped from 4th to the rear of the field after a post race investigation saw the #11 HMO driver handed 20 second time penalties for three separate incidents which also involved John Martin, Tony D’Alberto and Jason Bright respectively.

Tony D’Alberto and Dylan O’Keefe took full advantage of a sluggish start from Will Brown and relegated the race 2 winner to third at the first corner. Contact between D’Alberto and Brown at turn 2 saw both drivers run wide which allowed Andre Heimgartner to move the Kelly Racing Subaru into second.

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The race was neutralised almost immediately as rescue crews were dispatched to the damaged cars of Jimmy Vernon and Rik Breukers. Vernon’s Alfa Romeo went into limp mode during the race start procedure and failed to move away when the lights went out. Breukers almost rolled the Audi RS 3 when he made contact with the left rear wheel of Vernon and came to rest next to the concrete wall just short of the start line. Vernon managed to drive his Alfa Romeo, with the left rear wheel askew to the pit exit, where he then parked the car.

The race resumed on lap 5 as a  gaggle of cars squabbled for position on the run to turn 1, contact between Bright and Morcom saw the Taskforce Volkswagen Golf GTi driver fight for control of his car as it squirmed towards the edge of the circuit. Andre Heimgartner’s race came to an abrupt halt on lap 8 when a mechanical issue sidelined the Supercar driver just shy of the main straight. He was soon joined by John Martin who spun the Wall Racing Hoda Civic Type R into retirement after contact with Nathan Morcom at the same corner. The sister car of Tony D’Alberto dropped from 2nd to 6th as Michael Almond and then Nathan Morcom found a way past. Morcom’s move at the hairpin drew the attention of the series DSO and he was later penalised for the contact.

Will Brown closed on O’Keefe and took the lead shortly after which he then maintained to the end. O’Keefe claimed 2nd with Michael Almond 3rd. Aaron Cameron, James Moffat, Tony D’Alberto, Jason Bright, Chris Pither, Alex Rullo and Alexandra Whitley rounded out the top 10.

“We pretty much lost a practice session on Friday and the car was very loose in qualifying and race 1,” said Will Brown when asked about his improved performance as the weekend unfolded. “We went back to the drawing board last night and worked on set up and you could see the car really coming on as the race progressed and we were able to pull a gap.  I don’t know what I’m doing with my starts,” he quipped, “I’ll have to work on that.”

Round Two of the TCR Australia Series will take place at the second Shannons Nationals round at Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit in the first week of June.

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