Ryan Hansford has sealed his maiden Gulf Western Oil Touring Car Masters title in Race 2 at the Valo Adelaide 500.
A fourth-place finish saw the Holden Torana A9X driver provisionally take the title, with the Queenslander unable to be overtaken in the point standings with one race to go.
Ahead of Hansford, Steven Johnson backed up his Race 1 victory to win by 3.2s over Chevrolet Camaro SS driver Michael Almond, while six-time TCM title winner John Bowe finished third in his Holden Torana A9X.
Johnson led the way from Andrew Fisher (Holden Torana A9X), Trophy Race winner George Miedecke (Chevrolet Camaro RS), Hansford, and Almond into the Senna Chicane.
After shortcutting the Senna Chicane complex, Fisher rebounded off the kerb into Miedecke, resulting in him dropping down the field to sixth after the opening lap, with Miedecke up to second, Hansford to third, with Almond fourth.
The Safety Car came out on Lap 2, after Tony Karanfilovski went off the track at the Turn 9 hairpin in his Ford Mustang, before limping the #88 back to pit lane.
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The race resumed on Lap 5, with Johnson leading from Miedecke, Hansford, Almond, Bowe and Fisher as Holden Torana A9X driver Danny Buzadzic and Gerard McLeod (Holden VB Commodore) continued their dice for seventh.
At the front of the field, Johnson set a new lap record on Lap 6, with a 1:26.9449s, as he edged out to a 0.5364s lead over Miedecke, before the latter bettered the benchmark with a 1:26.7998s on Lap 7.
After claiming the lap record, Miedecke faltered within sight of the chequered flag, dropping down the order from second down to sixth, as Bowe took third from Hansford late in the race.
Resultantly, Johnson went onto take the chequered flag ahead of Almond, with Bowe in third.
Hansford was fourth, ahead of Fisher in fifth, as Miedecke limped across the line in sixth.
Buzadzic held onto seventh over McLeod, with Chevrolet Monza driver Ben Dunn in ninth, as Ford Mustang pilot Leo Tobin rounded out the top 10.
Dave Hender (Ford Falcon XY GT), Jason Palmer (BMW E30), and Chris Meulengraaf (Porsche 911 IROC) rounded out the field, with Peter Burnitt (Holden Torana A9X) and Karanfilovski not finishing the race.
The 2022 TCM season will conclude tomorrow with Race 3 at 12:50 local time/13:20 AEDT.
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