CAMERON KEEN TO IMPRESS AT GLOBAL EVENT

Rising star Aaron Cameron is hoping to take the world by storm when he represents Australia at the FIA Motorsport Games next week.

Already in Europe ahead of the event, Cameron is part of an expanded Team Australia effort which will race a Team Clairet Sport Peugeot 308 TCR against a stacked international field at the home of the French Grand Prix, Paul Ricard.

Cameron believes a strong performance against some of the top TCR drivers in the world can highlight the talent assembled in Supercheap Auto TCR Australia to the best in the business.

“I think it could open some opportunities up and it is something we did look at when we got into TCR,” he said to TCR Australia.com.

“TCR is a world platform that you can go anywhere in the world, they’re all the same cars, so you just need to learn the track and be on it.

“Hopefully it does open up opportunities so we can do some more international races in the future.

“We’re an underrated series and when drivers have come out here before we’ve been competitive with them. At that stage when they came out, they knew the cars a lot more than us as we were in our first year. 

“Now, we’re a few years down the track we have a good handle on the cars and when internationals do come out in the future like Teddy is at Bathurst, we can challenge them or if not win.”

Although eager to impress, Cameron knows the challenge will be stiff from a packed field with many holding prior knowledge of the Paul Ricard circuit.

Some of the international stars include Belgium’s Gilles Magnus, Chris Smiley from England and veteran Dutch driver Tom Coronel.

Cameron believes it will be a tall order to fight at the front, but said that his ambition is to show Team Australia can compete against the best. 

“Competition-wise, it will be tough as there are a couple of race winners in both WTCR and TCR Europe I will be competing against,” he said. 

“But I’m aiming to take it up to them to demonstrate the Aussies can do it, which will hopefully open it up for other guys in TCR Australia to go over to Europe and be successful.”

Aaron Cameron will be looking to raise the profile of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series with a strong performance at the upcoming FIA Motorsport Games.

After finishing second in last year’s championship, Cameron has had an up and down season and currently sits 11th in the 2022 standings with one round to go.

But the #18 Team Valvoline GRM Peugeot driver has still enjoyed plenty of highs scoring duel wins at Bathurst, plus being victorious in the opening race of the previous round at Sandown.

For Cameron, representing Australia in the FIA Motorsport Games was not an opportunity to miss, with preparation starting as soon as it was announced.

“When we get over to Paul Ricard, we want to hit the ground running and give ourselves the best opportunity,” he said.

“I’ve been using the simulator at Melbourne Performance Centre to learn Paul Ricard, which gives me an idea of where it goes left and right in addition to braking markers. We compared it to some onboard footage that we have and it all relates pretty well.

“The Clairets have been awesome so far. Obviously, they run a pretty professional Peugeot outfit in France, so I can’t wait to jump in the 308 TCR and race in something familiar to me. With the onboard footage and data, it’s been really helpful.”

Cameron’s campaign begins with the FIA Motorsport Games opening ceremony at Marseille on Wednesday, October 26 before the on track action takes place from Friday to Sunday.

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