Will Brown sweeps Sunday to secure early TCR Australia lead

Two wins from as many starts has seen Will Brown take the early advantage in the TCR Australia Series, thanks to a sweep of Sunday’s races at Sydney Motorsport Park.

The HMO Customer Racing Hyundai I30N driver had to pass Ash Seward Motorsport’s Dylan O’Keeffe in both of Sunday’s 16-lap races on his way to victory, taking an early championship lead in the process.

The Toowoomba driver topped O’Keefe in both races, while Tony D’Alberto and Michael Almond shared the final step on the podium in Sunday’s pair of races.

Race one winner Jason Bright had a more challenging day, a slow start from pole dropping him to fourth in race two while an off-track excursion saw him slip even further back in the third.

Arguably in the best form of his career, Brown was naturally well pleased with his pair of Sunday results.

“It was pretty cool, the car was feeling great. I didn’t get the best start for some reason but it was a great result. It was a great battle with Andre Heimgartner there – that was awesome,” he said following his third-race fight.
“It’s great to get two wins and I can’t thank the boys at HMO Customer Racing enough and we’ll come back even stronger at Phillip Island.

“It’s pretty cool to get three podiums and to be doing all the racing I’m doing this year.”

O’Keeffe noted that while his Alfa Romeo had a straight-line speed advantage over Brown’s Hyundai, he battled to keep his young rival behind in the twisty bits.

“In race two we were struggling a lot with understeer and I told the guys to make the car a bit more lively and it definitely showed,” O’Keeffe said. “I was able to hang with Will for a little bit but he was too quick through the corners today so we consolidated and got as many points as we could. It’s a credit to the team at Ashley Seward Motorsport and the guys at Garry Rogers Motorsport. They gave me the machinery to do the job this weekend.

“We maximised the opportunity we had this weekend and a great start to our campaign.”

Brown takes an early lead in the championship, provisionally leading O’Keeffe by 12 points. Having taken pole earlier in the weekend, Tony D’Alberto’s Honda sits third in the standings with Jason Bright and Nathan Morcom fifth.

Brown scored Hyundai’s first TCR Australia win as he swept past O’Keeffe’s Alfa Romeo to take race two on Sunday afternoon.

Polesitter Bright was swamped at the start, his VW Golf dropping to fourth as O’Keeffe, D’Alberto in his Honda Civic and Brown swept past into turn one.

The Hyundai was immediately on the offensive and pass D’Alberto on lap three; commencing his chase of the race leader. His cause was aided by a Safety Car on the ninth lap when Alexandra Whitley ended up bunkered in the turn six gravel trap.

Brown was locked to the rear of O’Keeffe on the restart and pounced on lap 13; a superb run out of turn five allowing the HMO Customer Racing i30 to dive down the inside at six, wrestling the lead away in a strong move.

He pulled away in the closing laps of the race; taking a three-second win to open his account.

With O’Keeffe second, attention turned to the battle for third with D’Alberto closing rapidly in the closing laps.

He, in turn, was chased by Bright in recovery from his slow start. The Honda ultimately scored his second podium of the weekend while Bright grabbed solid points in fourth.

Andre Heimgartner enjoyed a promising race to fifth in the first of the Kelly Racing Subarus, spending much of his race battling John Martin’s Honda. Martin was sixth while Michael Almond stormed from last to seventh in the GWR Hyundai.

Jimmy Vernon (Alfa Romeo), Aaron Cameron (VW Golf) and Rik Breukers (Audi RS3) completed the top-ten, joined in a frenetic battle by James Moffat – who failed to start race one in his Renault – and Alex Rullo’s Kelly Racing Holden Astra.

In a near carbon-copy of the battle in race two, Brown charged to victory in race three after passing O’Keeffe’s Alfa Romeo with a lunge mid-race.

The Sydney finale was a boisterous affair and started in dramatic fashion with O’Keeffe, Brown and D’Alberto three-wide into turn one: the Alfa ultimately ending up in front as D’Alberto was shuffled back through the pack having tried to go the long way around at turn two.

Behind them, Jimmy Vernon and Rik Breukers collided at the start; the former launched into the air as they banged wheels. Both cars were too badly damaged to continue and the decision was taken to bring out the Safety Car.

Andre Heimgartner was the biggest mover on the opening lap, the Kelly Racing Subaru leaping from fifth to second by the time the Safety Car was called.

The Kiwi Supercars driver was instantly on the attack on the restart as he simultaneously attacked leader O’Keeffe and defended from brown in third.

However, suspension failure saw him sidelined on lap six and opened the door for Brown to again challenge for the lead.

The pass came on the ninth lap with the Hyundai able to pull away from there to take a comfortable win.

There was action aplenty behind – Michael Almond completing his recovery from his race one dramas by storming through to grab the final spot on the podium.

Nathan Morcom crossed the line fourth, though was later penalised a total of 60 seconds for his role in two incidents throughout the race – two of them with the factory-supported Hondas.

The first with John Martin came at turn 11 on the eighth lap while later contact with D’Alberto and also Jason Bright saw him further penalised. The penalty elevated Aaron Cameron to fourth and James Moffat to fifth.