Buchan becomes the first two-time champion in TCR Australia

HMO Customer Racing’s Josh Buchan successfully retained the TCR Australia title, becoming the first two-time champion in the series. The battle between him and Zac Soutar was only decided during the third race of the season finale at Bathurst Mount Panorama. After setting pole position, Soutar won the first race, while in the second he benefitted from Buchan’s penalty for jump start to reduce his gap in the standings to 25 points.

However, with only ten cars on the grid, all Buchan needed was to finish the race in his Hyundai Elantra to confirm himself as the champion, and eventually his sixth place against Soutar’s third meant that he secured the title with an advantage of 18 points.

Race 1 – Soutar’s Audi sat on pole, with Will Harris in P2 for his first race in the new Honda Civic FL5 and points leader Buchan in P3. Soutar got away well at the start, while Will Harris was slow and dropped to fifth behind Buchan, Dylan O’Keeffe and his brother Brad. At the end of the first lap, O’Keeffe overtook Buchan for second, and one lap later Will Harris dropped further as he was passed by Tom Oliphant, Jordan Cox, Ben Bargwanna and Ryan Casha. Harris reacted and repassed Casha in lap 4, Bargwanna in lap 5 and Cox in lap 6. Up front, despite O’Keeffe’s effort Soutar was able to stretch his lead to over two seconds by the end of lap 7 and scored his third win of the season, reducing his gap in the standings from 34 to 27 points behind Buchan who was third. Brad Harris crossed the finish line in fourth place but was demoted to fifth behind Oliphant by a 5-second penalty for jump start. In the final part of the race, Will Harris’ pace faded, and he dropped to ninth while Aaron Cameron’s new Peugeot had not started with a power-steering issue and was sidelined for the rest of the weekend due to lack of spares.

Race 2 – Series debutant Blake Knowles and Will Harris shared the front row of the top ten reversed grid. Harris stalled at the start, while Bargwanna and Cox moved from P3 and P5 to first and second. Behind them, Brad Harris’ Honda touched Casha’s Peugeot which was sent into Knowles’ Audi that spun off. During the first lap, Cox muscled his way ahead of Bargwanna after they made contact, while Brad Harris pitted for repairs and rejoined two laps down. Casha in third place was chased by Oliphant, Buchan and Will Harris, while Soutar was eighth behind O’Keeffe. In lap 4, Bargwanna stopped on the track creating troubles for those who followed, and this resulted in Buchan dropping to sixth behind Will Harris and O’Keeffe, but ahead of Soutar. Cox benefitted from the battles behind to pull away, while Will Harris and Oliphant closed the gap to Casha and they both passed him in lap 8. At the beginning of lap 10, O’Keeffe too overtook Casha who kept Buchan and Soutar behind. Cox scored his second win in the new Peugeot, with Will Harris and Oliphant following him on the podium. Title rivals Buchan and Soutar finished sixth and seventh, but their positions were reversed as Buchan was given a five-second penalty for false start, so his lead was reduced to 25 points before the last race.

Race 3 – The best scorer in the first two races, Soutar was on pole with O’Keeffe alongside and Buchan fifth. O’Keeffe started better, but on the Mountain straight him and Soutar ran abreast, their cars appeared to make slight contact, and Soutar ran wide at Griffins bend, rejoining to eighth behind Buchan that he soon overtook during the first lap. O’Keeffe led from Cox and Oliphant, but Cox dropped at the back in lap 2 after he had to restart the engine of his car, while Soutar passed Will and Brad Harris moving up to fourth and then Casha for third in lap 4. Up front, O’Keeffe managed to keep a small margin between him and Oliphant and went on to claim his second win of the season, while Buchan passed Brad Harris to finish sixth and secure the title.

Bathurst – Race 1

1. Zac Soutar (Tufflift Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 11 laps
2. Dylan O’Keeffe (Ashley Seward Motorsport, Lynk & Co 03), 3.0717
3. Josh Buchan (HMO Customer Racing, Hyundai Elantra N), 6.7922

Bathurst – Race 2

1. Jordan Cox (Garry Rogers Motorsport, Peugeot 308 P51), 11 laps
2. Will Harris (Wall Racing, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 2.7714
3. Tom Oliphant (HMO Customer Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 3.9143

Bathurst – Race 3

1. Dylan O’Keeffe (Ashley Seward Motorsport, Lynk & Co 03), 11 laps
2. Tom Oliphant (HMO Customer Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 0.7527
3. Zac Soutar (Tufflift Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 7.5561

Championship points

1. J. Buchan, 747 pts; 2. Z. Soutar, 729; 3. B. Harris, 677

Picture: TCR Australia