Kelly Racing has revealed the first of two rebadged Holden Astras that will contest the inaugural TCR Australia Series which begins this weekend.

The Braeside outfit has elected to rebadge its ex-Lubner Motorsport Astras TCR machines for Alex Rullo (pictured) and Chelsea Angelo from Opel to Holden to be more in line with the Australian market. 

Today the team has taken the covers off the Castrol Racing backed entry for Rullo, which also features support from fast food outlet McDonald’s and McGrath Holden.

The car represents a crossover of Kelly Racing key partners with Castrol holding title sponsorship on the squad’s Supercars Nissan Altima driven by Rick Kelly.   

Castrol has been also been a long time sponsor of 18-year-old rising star Rullo.

“It’s really exciting to have Castrol on board. It has a long history in motorsport and with Kelly Racing so to see its iconic brand on my Astra is really motivating heading into the TCR Australia Series,” said Rullo.

“The car looks fantastic. The Castrol livery is so iconic you can’t really go wrong. And now that we’ve rebadged the car as a Holden thanks to AHG and McGrath Holden, I think the fans are really going to love it.”

Kelly Racing’s Holden Astras and its pair of Subaru WRXs for Molly Taylor and Andre Heimgartner will hit the track at Winton today for a final test ahead of this weekend’s maiden TCR Australia round at Sydney Motorsport Park.

“Today we have a test day today at Winton Raceway as a final shakedown for the car and for me to get to know it a bit better and get used to driving front-wheel drive with the steering wheel on the left,” added Rullo.

“I’m looking forward to pushing the car and then heading into first practice at Sydney Motorsport Park on Friday.”

TCR Australia has confirmed a grid of 16 cars for the first round which will be broadcast live on SBS and via the series’ live streaming service. 

Entry list: Round 1, Sydney Motorsport Park