Sweeny wins Winton TCR Australia finale, Clemente crashes

Bailey Sweeny has extended his Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series lead with a dominant victory in Race 3 of Round 3 at Winton.

He led an HMO Customer Racing Hyundai one-two although it was hardly a form finish, Sweeny having gapped team-mate Josh Buchan by about a second per lap in the 18-lap affair.

Buchan was in fact somewhat lucky to make the finish after a dramatic incident on the final lap, triggered when he was nudged by Michael Clemente with three corners to go.

Clemente outbraked himself and pushed the i30 N Sedan wide at Turn 10, then slowed in an apparent bid to redress.

However, with Buchan seeming to have already suffered damage, as evidenced by smoke from his left-rear guard, he was slow along the chute to Turn 11.

Clemente was therefore bottled up and went fishtailing into the concrete wall on drivers’ left when his Cupra Leon Competicion was glanced by the Audi of Zac Zoutar, who tried to take advantage.

Buchan got back around to take the chequered flag 20.4691s behind Sweeny, with Soutar a further 0.3929s behind in his RS 3 LMS, while Clemente was a DNF.

The two HMO i30 Ns had shared the front row, Sweeny on the inside in the hatch and Buchan on the outside in the sedan, but the big threat when the lights went out actually came from the second row.

Tony D’Alberto made a great start from fourth position but was blocked by both of the Hyundais and then got hung wide at Turn 2, which saw the #1 Honda Civic Type R shuffled back to seventh.

Sweeny emerged with the lead, from Buchan, Zac Soutar (Audi RS 3 LMS), Race 2 winner Tom Oliphant (Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce), and Clemente.

The latter won Race 1 but missed out on Race 2 altogether due to a failed clutch, which was replaced and hence enabled him to take the start in Race 3 from eighth on the grid.

🤯 LAST LAP STACK FOR CLEMENTE!

That poor Cupra was only brand new a matter of weeks ago… 😔#SpeedSeriesAU #RaceWinton #SCAutoTCR #StanSportAU #Shannons @wwos @StanSportAU @TCRAustralia pic.twitter.com/Gv1EejKtLZ

— Shannons SpeedSeries (@SpeedSeriesAU) June 11, 2023

He was fourth when he elbowed his way past Oliphant at Turn 3 on Lap 2, as Sweeny cleared out.

After six laps, the series leader was almost as many seconds ahead of Buchan, who was under pressure from Soutar.

However, Soutar had the Cupra of Clemente getting bigger in his mirrors, and it became a three-way battle for second place.

After 10 laps, Sweeny was 9.6s up but less than a second covered second through fourth, as Jordan Cox (Peugeot 308) ran a distant fifth.

They continued that way for a period of time, Sweeny building his lead by about a second per lap, before Clemente lunged past Soutar and into third position at Turn 7 on Lap 15.

Buchan and Clemente edged away from Soutar in the laps which followed, before the flashpoint at Turn 10 and beyond.

Fourth went to Cox, from Lachlan Mineeff (Audi), D’Alberto, Kody Garland (Peugeot), Oliphant, Ben Bargwanna (Peugeot), and Aaron Cameron (Peugeot).

Clay Richards made for two DNFs after what appeared to be a mechanical failure in the right-front corner of his Audi during the race, while Clemente was able to walk away from his incident.

Round 4 of the 2023 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series will be held at Queensland Raceway on August 11-13.

The Shannons SpeedSeries is streamed live and ad-free on Stan Sport in Australia, and free on Speedcafe for international viewers.

Results: Race 3

Series points