Lachlan Mineeff is set to contest a full Supercheap Auto TCR Australia season in 2023 after all, thanks to a late deal with Melbourne Performance Centre (MPC).

His Purple Sector team was going to miss Round 1 at Symmons Plains as it gave its own Audi RS 3 LMS TCR a refresh, but Mineeff has now secured a seat for this weekend in the Audi driven in 2022 by Will Brown.

“Due to the logistical challenges of preparing the car, our team had decided to miss Symmons Plains but it was a tough decision, knowing that I was going to give my rivals a big head start in the series,” he said.

“When the Melbourne Performance Centre crew offered me the opportunity to race one of their Audis, I jumped at the chance – it’s an opportunity to race in the opening round aboard a proven package, and make sure I start the season on the front foot.”

MPC is the Volkswagen Audi Group’s local outpost, and was charged once again with running Audi’s Pro class effort in this month’s Bathurst 12 Hour.

In recent days, it was announced that it had secured the services of Brown for the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series again in 2023, in the current-generation RS 3 LMS.

The Brown car will race with Liqui Moly backing and so will the car of Mineeff this weekend, with the latter excited at the opportunity to see firsthand how MPC works.

“The MPC team is a professional, well-resourced squad with an enormous amount of experience running entries not just in TCR, but in other high-profile categories like GT World Challenge Australia,” he noted.

“Being able to drive for MPC and understand their processes over a race weekend will give me some valuable insights that will be useful for how we approach events with our own team throughout the rest of the season.”

Practice for AWC Race Tasmania starts on Friday, with all the key action streamed live and ad-free on Stan Sport on Saturday and Sunday.