Winter Storm for TCR at Winton

Australia’s TCR championship would leave where they left off at Phillip Island, with championship contenders continuing with their strong form, popular results, first time winners and hands on head moments.

Former champion Will Brown would miss Round 3 of the championship at Victoria’s Winton Motor Raceway, however, the young Clay Richards would debut, making sure there were still four Audis on the grid.

​BTCC race winner Tom Oliphant and the Ash Seward Motorsport team would be unable to race their Lynk & Co TCR, and would have to race the older Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

Michael Clemente and the Carl Cox Motorsport team would show their speed, setting the fastest time in first practice, with a 1:26.796, closely followed by the two Hyundai i30N’s of Bailey Sweeney and Josh Buchan.

​Brad Harris would go off at the first chicane, and a brief red flag would be thrown to clean up the asphalt.

Aaron Cameron would be the fastest man on Friday afternoon, setting the fastest lap in both S5000 and TCR. His 1:26.211 was only 0.07 seconds faster than reigning champion Tony D’Alberto in the Honda Civic FK8, as others found the mud.

The first fifteen minutes of qualifying would set grid positions 11-14, as the top 10 would have ten extra minutes to settle their qualifying positions.

​For the top 10, I was at Turn 6, watching the drivers jump over the kerb.  Get this corner wrong and it can ruin your whole lap.  On multiple occasions, Lachlan Mineef leapt over the kerb, got all squirrely and just saved it heading into Turn 7.

It would be Michael Clemente that aced his lap, grabbing his maiden pole position, continuing his strong form with the new Cupra Leon Competition and Carl Cox Motorsport.

In Race 1, Aaron Cameron would have a poor start, meaning he’d be in the thick of it into Turn 1, where he would run into his teammate Kody Garland, as Ben Bargwanna would also get caught in the crossfire.

Josh Buchan would lose a podium after going wide before Turn 10, as his teammate Bailey Sweeney jumped to second and Zac Soutar grabbed third.

Michael Clemente would hold off a late charge by Bailey Sweeney to grab his second win of the season with the new Cupra. 

The top 10 finishers of Race 1 would be reversed for the starting positions of Race 2, meaning Tom Oliphant would start on pole with Clay Richards alongside.

Tom Oliphant would run away from the field through the first few corners, as Clay Richards fought off Bargwanna.

Jordan Cox would fight through the field, eventually snatching third from Ben Bargwanna.

Jordan Cox would be hassling the back of Clay Richard’s, determined to overtake until he hit the Turn 6 kerb, landed awkwardly and spun. Watching Mineef and others fly though that corner on the limit, I’d been waiting for someone to spin there all weekend.

This would leave Clay Richards off the hook to grab his first podium in his debut weekend, as Tom Oliphant would grab his first win in the Australian TCR championship, with Josh Buchan third.  Tom Oliphant would only make one mistake, driving back to the garage rather than to the top three interviews.

​For Race 3, it would the two Hyundai’s of Bailey Sweeney and Josh Buchan.  Everyone was bunched up into the first chicane, as Brad Harris and Ben Bargwanna spun off into the dirt.

Michael Clemente would charge through the field, up five places fighting for the podium positions.

Clay Richards’ suspension would collapse, ending his race early, as a battle for second and third would form between Buchan, Soutar and Clemente.  On the final lap, Soutar would find himself on the grass, then him and Clemente would run into each other and the rear of Josh Buchan, leaving Clemente on a trip into the wall, and leaving Josh Buchan to finish second with a smoking rear.

Bailey Sweeney would take the win in Race 3, and extend his lead in the championship, 36 points ahead of his teammate Josh Buchan.  

It's going to take some strong finishes from the competition to take on the Hyundai's in the championship.  But there are certainly teams and drivers in this category up for the challenge.

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