Will Brown says HMO Hyundai “felt like a Formula 3 car”

TCR Australia race three winner Will Brown has said his Hyundai i30 N TCR felt like a Formula 3 car en route to taking the victory in Sunday’s final race at Winton Motor Raceway.

The polesitter for the race streaked away to an early lead in the HMO Customer Racing prepared i30 N TCR, taking the fastest lap of the weekend on the way to come home over ten seconds clear of second place and further extend his championship lead.

After taking pole in Saturday’s qualifying and now the fastest lap of the weekend in race three, Brown says he was having fun pushing the car towards the end of the 18 lap sprint.

“It feels awesome, the car’s on rails, it feels like a Formula 3 car out there!” Brown said post-race.

“I can’t thank the guys enough; what a weekend, we nearly had a perfect run apart from race one.

“I thought I’d just keep going to see what kind of lap time we could get out of it. It was amazing, nearly qualifying pace and the car was awesome so we’re really happy.”

Coming home just behind Brown, Aaron Cameron took the Melbourne Performance Centre Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR to his best finish in TCR Australia with second place.

Cameron’s strong finish was aided by fellow Volkswagen driver Jason Bright stalling thanks to a clutch drama off the line, dropping the Matt Stone Racing entry down to last.

“That was awesome, the start was good,” Cameron said.

“Unfortunately Brighty (Jason Bright) stalled so that put us in a good position for the rest of the race. I haven’t got second yet so it’s a good one to add to the collection.

“I was a bit excited because it gave me a break over everyone else, we nearly got Will at one stage but he was blisteringly fast towards the end anyway.”

With only two rounds left, Brown’s championship lead has been extended thanks to his sixth win of the season and a hard Sunday for title rival Dylan O’Keeffe who had a puncture in the day’s opening race.