MOTORSPORT: Brown extends TCR lead after Island action

Hyundai i30 driver, Will Brown, drove through a weekend of carnage to extend his lead in the carsales TCR Australia Series at Phillip Island (Vic).

Forced to settle for second in the first two starts, behind the rampaging Alfa Romeo Giulietta of Dylan O’Keefe, Brown was able to pick up the pieces when his rival crashed out of the carsales TCR Australia second round’s final 30-minute heat.

A win and two seconds trumped the rest of the TCR hopefuls, as Garth Tander was the guest star in an Audi RS3 that in the end looked like a runaway patient from an emergency ward.

Brown finished ahead of his Hyundai team mate Nathan Morcom in the final heat, as Aaron Cameron took the final podium place in a Volkswagen Golf.

The two-car Wall Honda team took the biggest hits during back-to-back heats on Sunday, first with a pair of punctures and then when the cars of John Martin and Tony D’Alberto were both involved in a first-corner tangle.

The result saw Martin’s Civic Type R due a trip to the panelbeaters for major back-end repairs after he torpedoed O’Keefe’s stranded Alfa.

“I was just trying to mind my own business and I got punted. There is too much wild stuff going on,” Martin said.

Brown was happy to capitalise on a sensibly solid approach to the weekend, although he threw away a potential win in race two when he slid out of a battle with O’Keefe thanks to brake troubles.

“We tuned it up and had a crack for the last one. It was a lot of fun,” Brown said.

“I don’t know how it happened, but I was locking brakes all over the place in race two. Somehow the brake adjustment went way out.”

“But it’s been a good weekend.”

The competition and carnage mixed the results throughout the second meeting of the inaugural TCR championship, with action throughout the field including a spin for James Moffat after an early podium, heavy crash damage for both Garth and Leanne Tander in their twin Audis, and driveline troubles that effectively sidelined Jason Bright’s Volkswagen Golf.

Among the youngsters in the series, Audi RS3 driving newcomer Hamish Ribarits scored a podium on his first carsales TCR outing, Alex Rullo also ran solidly in his Holden Astra, and Cameron used his head to benefit from the mistakes of others.

They have plenty of pressure from Andre Heimgartner, who out-performed his Subaru WRX for most of the weekend, and Chris Pither, who admitted he is still coming to grips with his Renault Megane.

The Sunday’s first race, O’Keefe only lost the top spot briefly to Brown, capitalising on the high-speed strength of his Alfa Romeo Giulietta. But the incident-packed race was only two corners old when Moffat triggered a multi-car pile-up when he ran wide in his Renault Megane.

Heimgartner and Garth Tander were knocked out of contention, the latter out of the race with major front-end damage to his Audi RS3, as they took avoiding action from the runaway Renault.

“I just buggered it up. That’s racing,” Moffat said.

As O’Keefe motored away, there was action back through the pack with everyone from Nathan Morcom in his Hyundai to Rullo, who advanced to fifth with decent pace in his Holden Astra.

The Honda a twins, Martin and D’Alberto, lost any chance of a top-five slot with nearly-identical right-front punctures.

“The tyre went a Turn 2 with no warning. Just bang,” D’Alberto said.

“I didn’t get that far. Mine went in One. I thought to myself ‘Oh, wow, this will be big’. I stopped over near Turn 3,” said Martin.

Garth Tander was the weekend’s entertainer, and needs to continue in the series, as he was in the wars all weekend.

It started with a high-speed spin during Friday practice and continued right through to the final lap in an Audi that was battle scarred on every panel.

“We weren’t going to be racing with five minutes before the start. But we got out there. And then I had what I reckon must have been a world-record slide in Turn 2,” he said.

Wife, Leanne, who started from the pitlane in the final race, put it best, after a torrid introduction to TCR.

“No matter where you are, there is always someone to race with,” she stated.

The next round of the carsales TCR Australia Series is at The Bend Motorsport Park in SA on July 12-14, 2019.