Will Brown capped off his return to the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series by winning the final race and securing the fourth-round honours at Queensland Raceway.
He had pole position for the final race of the Shannons SpeedSeries weekend and led the race throughout. Not even a late Safety Car, which closed the field, could anyone seriously offer a challenge to the Melbourne Performance Centre Audi driver.
Early in the day in Race 2, the reverse grid outing, Brad Harris scored his first win aboard the Wall Racing Honda Civic. He lost the lead initially but fought his way back to the front and held off the category heavyweights Aaron Cameron (Garry Rogers Motorsport Peugeot 308) and Brown.
Michael Clemente (Cupra Leon Comp) led off the start before Harris had a great exit from Turn 6 on the first lap and was in front by Turn 1. There he led for the rest of the race while Clemente fell to fourth by the end of the fifth lap.
“He got me at the start, and I just had to get back in front quickly,” said a delighted Harris with his first race victory since joining the series at the second round.
The three were nose to tail in the end with 9s to Clemente, Jordan Cox (GRM Peugeot), and Josh Buchan (HMO Hyundai i30N), who took the series lead as a result. Previous leader and teammate Baily Sweeny finished behind Tony D’Alberto (Honda) and Ben Bargwanna (GRM Peugeot).
In the last race, Brown was able to beat D’Alberto to the first corner, and Cameron slipped through and took Cox with him. D’Alberto had contact with Cox at Turn 3 when he dived inside him.
Harris benefitted by passing Cox before they had further contact at Turn 4, along with several others. Cox spun with damage and stopped, which triggered the first Safety Car. In a busy start to the race, Zac Soutar pitted his Audi after a driveshaft failure.
Once the race resumed, Brown showed the way to Cameron, and eventually, Harris passed D’Alberto for third. The latter had a 10s penalty applied post-race which dropped him to 10th.
Tim Slade (Lynk & Co) picked up fourth ahead of Slade, Sweeney, Buchan, Mineeff and Clemente. Bargwanna was in the mix until Lap 15, where he lost pace while the late Safety Car was to retrieve the stopped Kody Garland Peugeot.
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