Young Will Brown reinforced his class and commitment with a rampaging run to victory in the first of three carsales TCR Australia Series sprints at The Bend.
Hyundai’s Brown, who has already claimed the series, has not released his choker hold on the opposition, running home an easy winner ahead of the Volkswagen driver Aaron Cameron and Honda star Tony D’Alberto in the first of three 14-lap sprints in South Australia.
Brown’s list of successes now runs to seven wins and 12 podiums from 19 TCR starts, with two more races on Sunday.
The Queenslander’s job was made easier when Dylan O’Keefe, who was set to start from pole position, was still parked in the pits for steering repairs to his Alfa Giulietta when the race began.
He was under early pressure in his i30N, but quickly gapped D’Alberto in second with his Honda Civic Type R as Cameron went forward through the closing laps.
There were plenty of incidents, as Liam McAdam crashed his Audi into Chelsea Angelo’s Holden Astra on the opening lap to trigger a safety car.
The damage to both cars has ruled them out for the rest of the weekend. The incident has seen McAdam docked 40 series points for reckless driving.
Nathan Morcom lost the left-right wheel from his Hyundai, and Barton Mawer damaged the rear suspension on his Subaru WRX after an unsuccessful lunge at Iain McDougall in an Audi on the final lap.
D’Alberto’s Honda team-mate John Martin was one of the drivers to push steadily forward, finishing sixth from the back of the grid, as James Moffat also moved up to ninth after breaking an engine mount in qualifying, while gamer-racer Matt Simmons finished 12th from the tail in a Subaru WRX.
The new Peugeot 308 TCR car that arrived into the this week has been plagued with electrical dramas and unable to complete a session. Components are being flown in from France that will see the car ready to race tomorrow. Driver Aurélien Comte will start Race 2 from the back of the grid.
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