Brown, Huff, Moffat and Gardner star in Sydney

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: 5 November 2023

Race Sydney came to a crescendo on Saturday night where Will Brown, Rob Huff, James Moffat and Alex Gardner shined under lights.

TCR

After shining under lights on Friday night, Will Brown continued his outstanding form, while Rob Huff made a big move in the TCR World Tour title fight in Sydney.

Saturday’s action began with a reverse top 10 encounter, but this did not stop Brown from beating the Australian and international field once again.

Thed Bjork and Nestor Girolami ran wide at turn two, opening the door for the fast-starting Aaron Cameron to snatch the lead.

Rob Huff takes the chequered flag to win the Sydney finale. image: RACE PROJECT

Yann Ehrlacher copped a hit from Jordan Cox, which forced the latter to box, while an early SC was required for the stationary Girolami.

When racing resumed Bjork and Michelisz got aggressive in the fight for second which ended in tears with the former’s Lynk & Co retiring.

The championship leading Hyundais of Josh Buchan and Bailey Sweeny almost added the chaos with a scary moment through the grass.

But Buchan and Sweeny recovered to be second and third respectively in the TCR Australia race.

The only local to finish ahead of them was Brown, who was on the charge.

The Audi driver took 13 laps to fly from 10th to first and snatched the lead from Cameron after forcing the GRM driver into a mistake at the turn eight hairpin.

Cameron would finish second on the road three seconds behind Brown, however was demoted to eighth outright and fifth in the TCR Australia field due to a 5s penalty for jumping the start.

Yann Ehrlacher and Jordan Cox fight hard for position. image: RACE PROJECT

After being upstaged by Brown, the international drivers were determined to take some pride from Sydney.

Britt Huff was the one who came to the party, storming to a lead he would not let go off the line.

Behind him, Frederic Vervisch and Cameron came to blows at turn one with the latter lucky not to roll in an incident that hurt his championship aspirations.

To make matters worse for Brown, he received a 5s penalty for jumping the start, but this only relegated him to third overall with Michelisz claiming the runner’s up trophy.

The race was a quieter affair under lights but TCR Australia debutant Will Harris had a spin and Cyan Racing Lynk & Co teammates Yann Ehrlacher and Ma Qing Hua clashed.

For Race Sydney honours Brown cruised to a TCR Australia clean sweep.

Consistent and solid weekends for HMO Customer Racing teammates Bailey Sweeny and Josh Buchan, plus Cameron’s misfortune means the championship remains unchanged ahead of the Bathurst finale.

Sweeny leads Buchan by 29 points, while Cameron is now 20 adrift.

But the TCR World Tour standings have shaken up with Huff on there charge.

The 2022 WTCR World Touring Car Cup winner has shot to second on the standings ahead of Ehrlacher and is just one point behind leader Michelisz.

Trans Am

James Moffat back in the Trans Am winner’s circle. image: RACE PROJECT

James Moffat extended his Trans Am championship lead with an important round win at Sydney having fended off Nash Morris.

The rivals went to battle straight away on Saturday in race two where the pair ran side by side in the early stages.

After a late SC Morris was able to get his nose in front of Moffat by half a second.

Cody Gillis also had to put in a fighting drive to snatch third from Lochie Dalton.

Morris went back to back in another tight affair in race two. He held the inside line across the two opening right handers to keep Moffat at bay.

After a SC arrived just three tenths was the difference at the chequered.

Ben Grice snatched third from Tim Brook as Dalton and Gillis clashed which resulted in the AWC driver getting a drive through which proved costly for his championship aspirations.

Moffat then made maximum damage by getting the race three and round win.

Despite suffering front end damage Moffat was able to hold off Gillis and Morris, while the first SC came at the expense of Elliott Cleary, who suffered his fourth DNF in as many races.

Racing hardly got underway when the SC returned for an incident involving Elliott Barbour.

This setup a one-lap dash where Moffat held off Gillis and Morris to be in a very strong position to wrap up the Trans Am title at Bathurst next weekend.

Radical Cup Australia

Alex Gardner celebrates championship success with his Volante Rosso team

Teenage rookie Alex Gardner has secured the 2023 Radical Cup Australia championship crown in Sydney where Cooper Cutts snuck to round honours.

Gardner and Elliott Schutte were in a tight two-horse race in the Sydney finale and the Volante Rosso Motorsport racer prevailed.

Gardner held the upper hand after winning the opening race, but had to be on the defence in race two as he dropped down the order.

He finished 24s behind winner Cutts in sixth, but importantly Schutte also battled and was two places further back in eighth.

The two championship rivals then went head to head for race win in race three which played a crucial role in deciding the title fate.

Gardner emerged on top by 5s over Schutte with Cutts in third.

It all came down to finale where Gardner was able to once again finish ahead of Schutte to secure the title.

The #94 finished third with his title rival down in fifth while the fight for the race win was an intriguing one.

Just 3s split the top three with Chris Perini prevailing over Cutts and Gardner.

But the biggest celebrations were seen in the Volante Rosso Motorsport garage where teenager Gardner took the biggest prize.

Attention turns to the Bathurst International next weekend where TCR, Touring Car Masters, Trans Am, V8 Touring Cars, Australian Production Cars and Porsche Sprint Challenge are in action.

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