Jason Bright believes he is driving as good as he has ever been after breaking a 1848 day winless streak by taking out the inaugural TCR Australia Series race.

The former Supercars veteran made history with a commanding drive to victory in the TCR Australia opener at Sydney Motorsport Park, ending a drought that stretches back to Pukekohe, 2014 when he triumphed for Brad Jones Racing.

Bright has returned to full-time racing this year via his own TCR Australia project having purchased two Volkswagen Golf GTI cars after announcing his full-time retirement from Supercars at the end of 2017.

However, the 45-year-old, who has 260 Supercars event starts to his name, rolled back the years on Saturday by overcoming a strong field, including top Supercars co-driver Tony D’Alberto and rising star Will Brown, in his Matt Stone Racing prepared Golf.

Enjoying a fresh start to his career, the former Bathurst 1000 winner feels he’s proved that he is still a force to be reckoned with.

“It’s great. I feel like I’m driving as well as I ever have, and I’m enjoying driving the car,” said Bright.

“It was good to just get in a rhythm in the race.

“It’s pretty cool. We had a really good period in 2013/2014 with BJR, we were winning races and we were competitive. 

“But that slipped away a bit towards the end of my time there.

“In the one year with Prodrive (now Tickford Racing) we made good progress all year, but didn’t quite get to the point where we were getting podiums. I needed another year there to push on with it.

“I looked at trying to do Carrera Cup last year, but by the time I tried to pull something together it was way too late. I wasn’t going to go in there half-arsed.

“When they announced TCR I was really keen to be involved, not just driving but having a team. I’m glad it all came together.

“I always intended to do some more racing, but probably in a Pro-Am sort of category, as opposed to a competitive category like TCR. 

“I think I can still be competitive and hopefully today I proved it. I hope we can be on the top step a few more times.”

TCR Australia operates progressive grids which means Bright will start from pole position for today’s Race 2, scheduled for 1315 AEST.

He will be joined on the front row by Wall Racing Honda driver Tony D’Alberto.