O’Keeffe building confidence in Lynk & Co

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: April 16, 2024

After a year away from TCR, Dylan O’Keeffe had the challenge of adjusting to the Lynk & Co but he and Ashley Seward Motorsport are starting to be rewarded for their efforts.

Having come to terms with the new car at a challenging Sandown season opener, O’Keeffe found his stride with a string of strong results at Symmons Plains and Phillip Island.

In the second race at Tasmania O’Keeffe ended a five-year gap between TCR wins and followed the breakthrough up with back to back third place finishes at Symmons Plains and Phillip Island.

Whilst the remainder of round 3 did not pan out the way he hoped with a flat tyre sending him into the gravel, O’Keeffe is in a good headspace with the Lynk & Co.

Having admitted it took some time across the Sandown weekend to come to terms with the Swedish machine, he feels regular trophies are now possible, especially thanks to the help of an unlikely source.

“We certainly are happy,” O’Keeffe told AUTO ACTION at Phillip Island.

“When I was asked to drive the car for Ash I was very excited because I know how capable the car is.

“The Lynk & Co is great because it feels like a normal car. Some of these front wheel drive cars are quite nervous and oversteerey but the Lynk & Co is really well balanced.

“Sandown was definitely still a challenge for us though.

“We both have the experience with racing but not with the car so there was a lot of learning at Sandown.

“Then going into Tassie we felt a lot more confident because we had some help from a European engineer who pointed us in the right direction.

“This weekend we had our best qualifying of the year even with the compensation weight.

“We are just trying to be consistent and scoring points. We may not have the outright pace to win but we have enough to be up there and get on the podium regularly.”

O’Keeffe raced for Ashley Seward Motorsport in the inaugural year of TCR in 2019 and took four wins, but could not reach those heights at GRM and focussed on Carrera Cup and Supercars co-driving duties.

He admitted he was not initially planning on taking a return to the category, but is enjoying the volatile nature of it.

“I probably did not expect to be back in TCR but I have enjoyed the challenges,” O’Keeffe said.

“It is super competitive with drivers but I like how there is a bit more involvement from the teams with the cars.

“Carrera Cup is very intense and you can essentially win every race but in TCR you can’t because there are so many differences at each track, so it gets you thinking a lot more with a lot of set up adjustments.

“I enjoy the racing because it is a lot of fun.”

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O’Keeffe building confidence in Lynk & Co

Having admitted it took some time across the Sandown weekend to come to terms with the Swedish machine, he feels regular trophies are now possible, especially thanks to the help of an unlikely source.

“We both have the experience with racing but not with the car so there was a lot of learning at Sandown.

“We are just trying to be consistent and scoring points. We may not have the outright pace to win but we have enough to be up there and get on the podium regularly.”

“It is super competitive with drivers but I like how there is a bit more involvement from the teams with the cars.

Podcast: Brodie Kostecki is back and the Auto Action RevLimiter is back to Wednesday Breakfast.

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