Mount Panorama's TCR Championship Climax

It had all come down to this, another exciting season of Touring Car Racing in Australia had arrived at the famed racetrack of Mount Panorama for a champion to be crowned.  Reigning champion Josh Buchan would arrive at Bathurst on 640 points, as Zac Soutar trailed on 604 points.

Garry Rogers Motorsport would race two more of the brand new Peugeot 308 P51s for the Valvoline pair of Aaron Cameron and Ryan Casha, after Jordan Cox and Ben Bargwanna debuted the new models at the previous round in Sydney.

99 Motorsport would return during the final round of the championship, this time with New Zealand Formula Ford champion Blake Knowles behind the wheel.  Although this would also be his debut in the category, he is no stranger to TCR, as the 18-year old already has multiple wins in both Audi and Hyundai TCR cars back home.

Josh Buchan threw the first punch in the first practice session going fastest with a 2:17.092, as Zac Soutar would be seven tenths (2:17.881) down the road in second, with Aaron Cameron in third (2:18.095).

The second practice session would be faster and much closer, with the top three being separated by less than a tenth of a second.  Brad Harris, who had been fast all season long topped the timesheets (2:16.101), Dylan O’Keefe second (2:16.155), and fellow Wall Racing teammate and brother Will Harris in third (2:16.177).

Zac Soutar would do everything in his power to grab the championship, and he would begin my nabbing pole position with a blistering 2:12.813.  Will Harris would line up alongside on the front row after setting a 2:13.657, and Josh Buchan would start third with a 2:13.755 lap.

Before Race 1 could begin, Aaron Cameron suffered a power steering failure, and unfortunately that would spell the end of his weekend altogether.

Brad Harris started outside his grid slot when the lights went out, which resulted in five-seconds being added to his race time, dropping him from fourth to fifth.  Zac Soutar however, would go mistake free to lead every lap on his way to victory, followed by Dylan O’Keefe and championship rival Josh Buchan.

Race 2 would be a reverse grid race, with Blake Knowles on pole and Will Harris alongside.  However, both front row starters would have poor starts, with Will Harris stalling on the grid, and Brad Harris running into Ryan Casha, who then hit Blake Knowles.  Knowles would spin out and have to retire due to the sustained damage on his Audi RS3.  It seemed that nobody was near their original starting positions as they arrived at Griffins Bend.

​Will Harris would remarkably climb back through the field to a second-place finish, after Ben Bargwanna would pull over due to an oil pressure warning in his Peugeot 308.  Jordan Cox took the victory, with Tom Oliphant rounding out the podium. 

All the anticipation would build up for Race 3, particularly thanks to the grid walk before the race, open to all spectators, with Supercheap Auto pulling out all the stops, as the naming sponsor for both TCR and the Bathurst International.

Zac Soutar would start from pole position once again, however, through Griffin’s Bend, on the outside of O’Keefe, he would run wide almost smacking the concrete and losing multiple positions.  Jordan Cox’s engine would die, then get going again, as Soutar fought through the field. 

Dylan O’Keefe would grab the Race 3 victory and the round win, followed by Tom Oliphant in second.  Zac Soutar would climb back up to third, but it wouldn’t be enough.

Josh Buchan had become back-to-back TCR Australia champion.  He becomes the first driver to win multiple TCR Australia championships, as HMO Customer Racing and Hyundai nab their third championship since the category’s inception in 2019.

With this being the final round of the Shannon’s Nationals/Speed Series, fans await the announcement for the championship’s plans in 2025.