MOTORSPORT: New winners in TCR Australia

John Martin (Honda) and Garth Tander (Audi) joined the winners’ list as the carsales TCR Australia Series again served up a box of chocolates -- where no-one knew what they were going to get -- at The Bend Motorsport Park near Tailem Bend in South Australia.

Will Brown (Hyundai) added another victory to his total and extended his championship lead on a chilly weekend of mixed podiums, crashes and smashes, improvers and penalties.

The racing was as eager and impressive as anything seen in Australia in many years, with four lead changes on a single lap at one stage, four-wide battles at all three race starts, and plenty of panel beating on crash-damaged cars.

“The best thing about this series is that anything can happen,” said James Moffat, who was rear-ended at 140km/h in opening practice, took a pole position by combining slick front tyres with wets on the back of his Renault Megane RS, was punted out of the lead in the first race on Saturday, then rebounded with pair of thirds in the two Sunday contests.

Moffat’s story was typical of many in the leading battle pack, including first-race winner Tander who added a pair of seconds with an Audi RS3 in his final guest visit to TCR until the second-last round at Sandown.

“It was good to get another opportunity to come back to the series and I found myself on the podium in all three races,” said Tander.

So Tander finished on top in the first 30-minute sprint, Brown got the second with his Hyundai i30 N (to give him four wins from nine races) then Martin finally converted the speed of his Honda Civic Type R into victory in the third race.

“It feels amazing. It’s been a long time coming,” said Martin, who is settling into TCR after unsuccessfully chasing open-wheeler and sports car success overseas.

Martin lamented a lack of straight-line speed until the last race, when he dive-bombed Tander for the lead.

“When I got the opportunity I just drove it in there. I knew I wouldn’t get the gold opportunity again,” he says.

“I knew if I could get to the front I could drive away. I just couldn’t get my shit together in qualifying.

“We’re only three rounds in and it’s already awesome racing. I like it. But I’m learning as I go along,” Martin stated.

A strong field of 19 cars was set for action in Adelaide, but the number was gradually reduced as Andre Heimgartner had an engine failure in his Subaru WRX, Molly Taylor was sidelined by fuel dramas in her WRX and Chris Pither put his Renault Megane heavily into a wall after forgetting to adjust the brake balance.

Alex Rullo’s Holden Astra will also need new panels after several hits and Garry Rogers’ team is planning a proper repair to Moffat’s Renault.

One surprise from the weekend was the lack of pace from Alfa Romeo driver, Dylan O’Keefe. The youngster had a turbo failure on Saturday and failed to feature on Sunday despite holding second in the championship standings.

The third race was surprisingly incident-free after the first turn, where O’Keefe hit Tony D’Alberto in a move that dropped the Honda driver out of any contention and left him seventh at the finish.

Brown’s points tally is now 280 to the 211 of O’Keefe, with Honda’s best-placed D’Alberto, third on 183.

The carsales TCR Australia Series now heads to Queensland Raceway for the fourth leg of the championship from August 2-4.