Chaz Mostert wins a wet Race 1 at Phillip Island

Chaz Mostert drove his Audi RS 3 LMS to convert the pole position in an authoritative victory in TCR Australia’s first race at Phillip Island.
On a track that had been flooded by a rain shower, the Melbourne Performance Centre’s driver annihilated his competitors with a stunning pace. He took the lead at the start and increased his margin lap after lap; eventually he took the chequered flag with a 32-second margin over his teammate Luke King who completed an Audi 1-2.
Lee Holdsworth (Ashley Seward Motorsport, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce) claimed the third place, resisting the pressure from John Martin (Wall Racing, Honda Civic Type R).
Holdsworth was running in second position in the early stages, chased by King and Martin, while Nathan Morcom (HMO Customer Racing, Hyundai i30 N) and Tony D’Alberto (Wall Racing, Honda Civic Type R) climbed to fifth and sixth. Michael Caruso (Garry Rogers Motorsport, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce) who had started from the fourth spot on the grid, dropped down to the back of the field.
Morcom’s teammate Josh Buchan overtook D’Alberto for P6, but then went off the track and rejoined in tenth position. 
In lap 6, King overtook Holdsworth for P2 and left him fighting with Martin.
Points leader Jordan Cox (Garry Rogers Motorsport, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce) recovered from P15 at the start and moved into P8 in lap 7, passing the GRM Customer Racing Peugeot 308 cars of Ben and Jason Bargwanna. However, Cox lost control of his car and dropped again behind the two Peugeot cars in lap 10.
Morcom pitted with three laps to go, which promoted D’Alberto and Aaron Cameron (Garry Rogers Motorsport, Peugeot 308) to fifth and sixth respectively; Buchan recovered to finish seventh, while Jason Bargwanna passed his son Ben for P8.
The second race takes place at 11:10 local time (01:10 CET) tomorrow, with Mostert again starting from pole position; live streaming at www.tcr-series.com. 

Phillip Island – Race 1
1. Chaz Mostert (Melbourne Performance Centre, Audi RS 3 LMS), 14 laps
2. Luke King (Melbourne Performance Centre, Audi RS 3 LMS), 32.2981
3. Lee Holdsworth (Ashley Seward Motorsport, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce), 40.5382
4. John Martin (Wall Racing, Honda Civic Type R), 43.4209
5. Tony D’Alberto (Wall Racing, Honda Civic Type R), 1:10.3732

Championship points
1. Lee Holdsworth 156 pts; 2. Chaz Mostert 152; 3. Jordan Cox 141

Picture: TCR Australia