Will Brown scored a decisive win over the international contingent in the first Kumho TCR World Tour race in Australia at Sydney Motorsport Park.
The rain-affected race, which was also the first in Round 6 of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series, had to be red-flagged at half distance due to around a dozen cars spearing off at Turn 2 after a downpour.
The first was Brown, the race leader. But under the red flag rules the positions reverted back two laps for the restart after which the Audi RS3 pilot won by 7.4s.
“I thought I completely screwed this up, but the red flag came out and I was back in front,” he said. “I didn’t know how good those [Internationals] guys would be in the wet, and I just managed the wet tyre and looked for the puddles in the end.”
Second place went to Spaniard Mikel Azcona (Hyundai Elantra) while third looked likely to go to Brit Rob Huff (Audi) until he became embroiled in a multi-car tussle in the latter stages.
Frenchman Yann Ehrlacher (Lynk & Co) was the first of the group across the line, but he was penalised 5s for weaving behind the Safety Car. That gave the final podium spot to Chinese driver Ma Qing Hua (Lynk & Co) ahead of Huff, Frederic Vervisch (Audi) and Ehrlacher.
Aaron Cameron (Peugeot 308) finished seventh ahead of Norbert Michelisz (Elantra), Thed Bjork (Lynk & Co), and Nestor Girolami (Honda Civic FL5) who will start on pole for the reverse top 10 Race 2 on Saturday.
Just behind him came Jordan Cox (Peugeot) in 11th after he started at the rear of the field and copped a significant hit out of Turn 2 on the first lap. Tony D’Alberto (Honda) was another on the receiving end of contact and speared at Turn 1 early in the race. He resumed a long last and make it to 15th by the chequered flag.
Pole sitter Ben Bargwanna led off the start before he gradually fell down the order and placed 18th. Hyundai teammates Bailey Sweeney and Josh Buchan were prominent early and in the top five at the stoppage before both fell outside the top 10 in the second half.
