MOTORSPORT: TCR back in full swing at Phillip Island

A colourful new crew is providing the youthful drive for TCR racing in Australia.

Ben Bargwanna, Lachlan Mineef and Liam McAdam are unlikely to win in the TCR Australia Series at Phillip Island this weekend, but they are helping to spark a major revival in categories outside Supercars.

The Australian Racing Group (ARG) is touting big fields for TCR, Trans Am and S5000 single-seaters at its second event of the 2021 season, with the potential for much bigger growth through the back end of the year and in the lead-up to ARG’s showcase Bathurst International meeting in November.

“We’ve got 20 TCR cars this weekend, so it’s growing again from the field at the start of the season at Symmons Plains,” said ARG chief executive Matt Braid.

“In Trans Am we’ve got 24 cars, which is good, there are 11 in S5000 and we’ve also got 20 cars for the GT race this weekend.”

One of the newcomers to Trans Am, joining second-generation pacesetter Aaron Seton, is Nash ‘Flash’ Morris, the son of former Bathurst 1000 winner Paul.

Braid is a former senior executive at Supercars who has taken a new focus at ARG, leading the development of new championships in 2019, helping them to survive through the COVID-hit 2020 and then into the new year.

“Motorsport, like the rest of the economy, is bouncing back quicker than people expected. There appears to be plenty of pent-up demand to go racing,” Braid said.

“People with budget are looking to get into something. We’ve got more people we’re talking to about TCR as we move along.”

Bargwanna is having his first season in TCR in a Peugeot 308 alongside his veteran father, and Bathurst 1000 winner, Jason, as Mineef joins the series in a Volkswagen Golf.

McAdam started in TCR in 2019 and is yet to cement a place for 2021 but has revealed the indigenous livery he plans to run once he has the funding to roll his Audi onto the grid.

There are also new names and new looks in S5000, where Tom Randle is the likely pacesetter – and perhaps a new lap record holder at Phillip Island – with backing from Castrol.

“S5000 is still a bit unproven, but there are a lot of kids talking about getting into it because it’s a series for the future,” said Braid.

“There are major gaps in the open-wheeler system in Australia. And, budget-wise, it’s really reasonable.”

The CEO points to the whole ARG ‘family’ as a new direction for Australian motorsport, without drawing any comparison with the traditional route up to Supercars and the Bathurst 1000.

“It’s pleasing that the main additions to the fields for all three of our major categories have come from the younger generation of kids coming in,” he said.

“That could be from a Toyota 86 or production car, or karting, and also some open-wheeler kids.

“It’s what we wanted to see happen. It’s too early to say it’s a trend, but it is very pleasing to see youngsters looking to make the next step in their careers with our categories.”