Shooting Soutar
It has been a massive year of growth on and off the track for punchy privateer Zac Soutar and he heads to Queensland with the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia championship lead, but that will not change a thing.
Back to back wins on Sunday at The Bend have shot Soutar to the top, with a solid 21-point lead over reigning champion Josh Buchan, who gave him a hard time in the closing stages of Race 3.
The success was a long time coming for the Geelong driver, being his first TCR victory in 841 days since the 2022 season opener and since then he has come close a number of times.
Being a small, family run team, Soutar has spent much of his career being the underdog, but the prospect of being the hunted will not shift his mindset.
“It does not change anything for me,” Soutar told Auto Action.
“The championship is so close it is not worth worrying about until the final race at Bathurst.
“The car has been fast all year but things just have not swung our way, so to capitalise on track was fantastic because it has been a long time between drinks.
“I am just taking the approach of making the car as fast as I can and chase race wins.”
Despite Soutar’s supreme Sunday drive, it was far from smooth sailing.
On Saturday he suffered the heartbreak of stalling it on the grid from fourth.
Although he bounced back with a comeback drive to ninth and then back to back wins on Sunday, the clutch drama returned when he drove the Audi into victory lane.
Soutar admitted the clutch drama remains “a mystery” still to be resolved with the plates “welding themselves together” after race 1.
“It is a bit of a mystery because it was a brand new clutch and I had only done one practice start,” he recalled.
“What we think has happened is the clutch has welded itself together with the plates is odd.
“But at the end of race 1 it fixed itself and we did not even have to pull the thing apart.
“At the end of race 3 I came into the #1 box and put the foot on the clutch and nothing happened.
“I was very fortunate I was able to get away off the line in race 3 and only found it after the race.
“It is definitely something we will have to investigate.”
Fortune was on Soutar’s side and it felt like a reward for effort for the family team, which expanded to two cars in 2024 for the arrival of Indonesian Glenn Nirwan.
Soutar admitted growing the team has taken its toll, but the extra responsibility has helped him improve both in and outside of the car.
“For my whole career we have always had the privateer tag and now we have two cars, I want to shift that mentality to having a professional race team,” he said.
“This year has been a huge step up. We had to get a bigger transporter, double our equipment and workload with two cars.
“But it is a challenge I have always dreamed of taking on and loving every minute of it.”
To create more cause for confidence, Soutar feels he has unlocked a set-up secret, which he hopes to unlock at the “Paperclip.”
“It has taken a little while to get there but I feel now we have finally got a handle on what the Audi likes,” he said.
“After the best part of a year we have found a good sweet spot with it so I am really looking forward to going to Queensland raceway.
“It is a track we enjoy and feel our setup can work really well there.
“It is always hard with TCR because going into a race weekend you never know quite where you are going to stack up.
“So far this year we have got through to Q2 at every round this year but luck has not been on our side in the races.
“But it does not matter now and we are fully focused on the final three rounds.”
Image: SpeedShots Photography
READ THE PIASTRI VICTORY ISSUE OF AUTO ACTION DIGITAL HERE
Don’t forget the print edition of Auto Action available via subscription here. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine.
