BRIGHT WINS TCR OPENER

Jason Bright has claimed the first win of the TCR Australia Series – Photo: InSyde Media

A BRILLIANT start enabled Jason Bright to grab an immediate lead and go on to victory in race 1 the new carsales.com.au TCR Australia Series at Sydney Motorsport Park today.

The Alliance Autosport Volkswagen Golf GTi to lead all 16 laps of the inaugural series’ round and take victory by 2.1s.

Second place went to pole sitter Tony D’Alberto (Wall Racing Honda Civic Type R FK8) who had to fend off Will Brown for a greater part of the journey.

Brown (HMO Customer Racing Hyundai i30N) started out of position four and charged to third at turn 2 on the opening lap. Ultimately, he couldn’t sustain the relentless pressure on D’Alberto and had to concentrate on keeping Dylan O’Keeffe (Garry Rogers Motorsport Alfa Romeo Giulietta Quadrifoglio Verde) at bay.

Next was Dutchman Rik Breukers (Melbourne Performance Centre Audi RS 3) who worked his way through from fifth to head John Martin (Honda), Aaron Cameron (Volkswagen), Nathan Morcom (i30N), Chris Pither (Renault Megane) and tenth-placed Andrew Heimgartner (Subaru WRX STi).

James Moffat was a non-starter when his Renault suffered an engine problem and was trucked away from the grid.

Michael Almond had to stop to fix a loose bonnet – Photo: InSyde Media

Michael Almond’s aspirations were dashed when he was forced to pit his i30N with a loose bonnet on lap 5 but still managed to finish on the lead lap, unlike Jimmy Vernon who lost a couple of laps due to right front tyre damage on the Alfa.

Race 1 Result (16 laps)

1 Jason Bright (Volkswagen Golf GTi) 26:07.0349
2 Tony D’Alberto (Honda Civic Type R) 26:09.2127
3 Will Brown (Hyundai I30N) 26:10.3932
4 Dylan O’Keeffe (Alfa Romeo Giulietta) 26:10.6348
5 Rik Breukers (Audi RS 3) 16 26:15.2661
6 John Martin (Honda Civic Type R) 26:15.8799
7 Aaron Cameron (Volkswagen Golf GTi) 26:16.9672
8 Nathan Morcom (Hyundai I30N) 26:16.9882
9 Chris Pither (Renault Megane RS) 26:20.6980
10 Andre Heimgartner (Subaru WRX STi) 26:26.8765
11 Alex Rullo (Holden Astra) 26:31.3827
12 Chelsea Angelo (Holden Astra) 26:42.1213
13 Alexandra Whitley (Volkswagen Golf GTi) 26:44.9872
14 Molly Taylor (Subaru WRX STi) 26:55.6392
15 Michael Almond (Hyundai I30N) 26:58.9005
16 Jimmy Vernon (Alfa Romeo Giulietta 1750) 14 laps

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