Aaron Cameron wins Race 1, as Chaz Mostert grabs the title

A great getaway from P4 on the grid put Aaron Cameron on the right way to win TCR Australia’s Race 1 in the season finale at Bathurst. Cameron led home a Peugeot 1-2 ahead of pole sitter Ben Bargwanna, with the Alfa Romeo of Michael Caruso finishing in third position.
Points leader Chaz Mostert completed a cautious race to finish ninth and secured the 2021 champions’ crown before the last two races. 
Josh Buchan’s Hyundai i30 N stopped on the track during the formation lap with a broken driveshaft and was towed back to the pits.
At the start, Ben Bargwanna made good use of the pole, while Cameron sprinted from P4 on the grid and passed James Moffat and Caruso moving up to second. At the back of the field, Jay Hanson’s Alfa Romeo hit the pit wall after clashing with Zak Soutar’s Honda and limped back to the pits for repairs.
During the opening lap, Moffat and Brad Shiels passed John Martin advancing to fourth and fifth, then in lap 2, Shiels overtook Moffat for fourth. After starting from the back of the grid, Jordan Cox was elbowing his way through the field and passed Luke King for P9 and then Jason Bargwanna for P8.
Up front, Cameron stole the lead from Ben Bargwanna in lap 5, while Caruso and Shiels followed them closely, as the first four cars were running nose-to-tail.
In lap 9, both Mostert and Cox passed Martin, advancing to sixth and seventh, then Cox benefited from Mostert making a mistake and moved up to P6.
Halfway through the race, Cameron and Ben Bargwanna pulled away from Caruso and Shiels, while Mostert dropped from seventh to ninth behind Martin and King; in lap 14, Cox passed Moffat for P5.
Cameron resisted the pressure from Ben Bargwanna and claimed his first victory of the season by nine hundredths of a second, with Caruso completing the podium ahead of Shiels and Cox. However, Shiels was then excluded because his car was underweight.
Mostert was classified ninth, which was enough to grab the title; his closest rival King scored 26 points for finishing seventh and closed the gap to 102 points when 90 remain at stake.
The second race is scheduled for 12:30 local time (02:30 CET) on Friday; live streaming at www.tcr-series.com. 

Bathurst – Race 1
1. Aaron Cameron (Team Valvoline GRM, Peugeot 308), 17 laps
2. Ben Bargwanna (GRM Customer Racing, Peugeot 308), 0.0946
3. Michael Caruso (Garry Rogers Motorsport, Alfa Romeo Giulietta), 5.9118
4. Jordan Cox (Garry Rogers Motorsport, Alfa Romeo Giulietta), 16.0749
5. James Moffat (Garry Rogers Motorsport, Renault Mégane RS), 19.2817

Championship points
1. C. Mostert 486; 2. L. King 384; 3. A. Cameron 371 

Picture: TCR Australia