Grid set for TCR Asia Pacific Cup at Albert Park

A 22 car field of turbo-charged TCR rockets will take to the Albert Park street track for the 2020 TCR Asia Pacific Cup, starting tomorrow.

Supporting the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix, a mix of seven different car brands will take on three races around the 5.3km street track, with a mix of local and international racers.

The field has finalised after three late additions, including Garth Tander, who will drive a brand-new Audi RS 3 LMS.

Purchased by Jamac Racing and run by the Melbourne Performance Centre, the new car’s only track time has been as a ride car in Germany for the factory Audi team.

Tander, a three times Bathurst 1000 winner, competed in three TCR Australia events last year, scoring an impressive five podiums from his nine starts.

Joining Tander at MPC is Hamish Ribarits, who returns to the team in the #100 Audi RS 3 LMS.

It will be Ribarits third race meeting in the TCR Series and second in the Audi. He raced with success at Phillip Island last year, finishing with a podium result in his maiden race weekend in the category.

He also drove a Holden Astra for Kelly Racing at Winton, ensuring that despite the fact that he has never raced at Albert Park, he has a good level of experience in these front wheel drive cars.

Another significant change is that Wall Racing’s Honda driver Paul Ip will not compete. Work commitments is keeping the Hong Kong-based driver out of the country and will be replaced by Takuya Shirasaka.

The 35 year old Japanese driver has competed in various sports car and TCR races around the world, and this will be his Australian racing debut.

Ip is set to return to Australia to compete in the opening round of the series at Sydney Motorsport Park on March 2729.

Joining Shirasaka as the other international entrants include Jack Milligan (New Zealand, Audi), Rene Munnich (Germany, Honda), Stan van Oord (Netherlands, Audi) and Julien Briche (France, Peugeot).

In terms of leading locals, the grid includes reigning carsales TCR Australia Series champion Will Brown, as well as former Supercars regulars Tander (Audi), Michael Caruso (Alfa Romeo), James Moffat (Renault) and Jason Bargwanna (Peugeot).

Two practice sessions and qualifying will be held on Thursday, followed by one race each day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

GRID, TCR ASIA PACIFIC CUP

Car #	SPONSOR	DRIVER	STATE	VEHICLE	MODEL	CC	COLOUR
1	HMO Customer Racing	Will Brown	QLD	Hyundai	I30N	1999	White/Blue
2	Melbourne Performance Centre	Chelsea Angelo	VIC	Volkswagen	Golf GTI	1984	White
7	Valvoline Racing GRM	Michael Caruso	NSW	Alfa Romeo	Giulietta Veloce	1750	White/Red/Green
9	Ashley Seward Motorsport / AWC	Jay Hanson	VIC	Alfa Romeo	Giulietta Veloce	1750	White
10	Ashley Seward Motorsport	James Allen	VIC	Alfa Romeo	Giulietta Veloce	1750	White
11	HMO Customer Racing	Nathan Morcom	NSW	Hyundai	I30N	1999	White/Blue
15	Wurth	Michael Clemente	VIC	Honda	Civic Type R	1998	White/Red
17	Burson Auto Parts Racing	Jason Bargwanna	NSW	Peugeot	308 TCR	1600	White
18	Team Valvoline GRM	Aaron Cameron	VIC	Peugeot	308 TCR	1600	White
22	Track Tec Racing	Jack Milligan	NZ	Audi	RS 3	1984	Orange/Silver
33	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Dylan O’Keeffe	VIC	Renault	Megane RS	1800	White
34	Renault Sport GRM	James Moffat	VIC	Renault	Megane RS	1800	White
35	Melbourne Performance Centre	Alexandra Whitley	QLD	Volkswagen	Golf GTI	1984	White/Blue
49	Wall Racing/ALL-INKL.COM	René Münnich	GER	Honda	Civic Type R	1998	White/Red
51	KCMG Motorsport	Takuya Shirasaka	JAP	Honda	Civic Type R	1998	White/Red
75	Melbourne Performance Centre	Garth Tander	VIC	Audi	RS 3	1984	Black
77	Track Tec Racing	Stan Van Oord	NED	Audi	RS 3	1984	Orange/Silver
97	Varta Batteries	Liam McAdam	QLD	Audi	RS 3	1984	Blue
100	Melbourne Performance Centre	Hamish Ribarits	VIC	Audi	RS 3	1984	Black
110	Team Soutar Motorsport	Zac Soutar	VIC	Honda	Civic Type R	1998	White
308	Peugeot Sport GRM Customer Racing	Julien Briché	FRA	Peugeot	308 TCR	1598	White
777	Milldun Motorsport	Declan Fraser	QLD	Volkswagen	Golf GTI	1984	White