Victories for Clemente, Oliphant and Sweeny at Winton
Michael Clemente, Tom Oliphant and Bailey Sweeny were winners at the third weekend of TCR Australia at Winton Motor Raceway, with Sweeney extending his lead in the drivers’ championship.
Clemente started the weekend on a high, following up his debut win last time out at Phillip Island in the reversed grid race, with a pole position in his new CUPRA Leon run by Carl Cox Motorsport.
Race 1 - Clemente converted that pole into a second race win in as many weekends, leading the two HMO Customer Racing Hyundai cars of Josh Buchan and Sweeny at the start. Buchan had passed teammate Sweeny off the line, but lost places when he ran wide at Turn 9 on lap 3, falling back behind Sweeny as well as the MPC Audi of Zac Soutar. Sweeny was closing in on Clemente in the final stages, but the CUPRA driver was able to hold on to take the win, with Soutar scoring the MPC team’s best finish of the year with third.
Race 2 - Oliphant started from pole position in his Ashley Seward Motorsport-run Alfa Romeo, having been forced to switch back from his new Lynk & Co due to an issue in testing. The British driver converted the pole into a maiden victory in the series, leading the race ahead of the second of the MPC Audi RS 3 cars of first-time TCR racer Clay Richards. Richards was under attack at the start from Ben Bargwanna’s GRM Peugeot 308, who soon fell down the order behind teammate Jordan Cox as well as Buchan’s Hyundai Elantra. Cox made an uncharacteristic error on lap 15 when he ran off the road at Turn 7, promoting Buchan to the final podium position. Oliphant held on to claim the win ahead of Richards.
Race 3 - Buchan started from the pole based on points from the first two races, but Sweeny had a better start and led the way into Turn 1. The two Hyundai cars were under immediate threat from the fast-starting Honda of Tony D’Alberto, but the reigning champion ran wide at the first corner and slipped to seventh, promoting Soutar’s Audi back to third. Race 1 winner Clemente was on a charge, after having missed Race 2 due to a gearbox failure. Clemente made his way up to third ahead of Soutar on lap 15, and was closing fast on Buchan, while Sweeny was building an incredible lead up front. There was drama on the final lap however, as Clemente tapped Buchan’s rear at Turn 10, and while he backed off to allow Buchan to recover, he was involved in an incident with Soutar who was in position to take advantage. As Soutar’s and Clemente’s cars made contact, the latter’s CUPRA was fired off into the barriers, while Soutar was able to carry on behind Buchan to finish third. Sweeney has now built a 16-point lead in the standings over his new closest title rival, which is his teammate Buchan.
The next event will be at the Queensland Raceway on August 11/13.
Winton – Race 1
1. Michael Clemente (Carl Cox Motorsports, CUPRA Leon Competición), 18 laps
2. Bailey Sweeny (HMO Customer Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 1.1881
3. Zac Soutar (Team Soutar Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS II), 8.4328
Winton – Race 2
1. Tom Oliphant (Ashley Seward Motorsport, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce), 12 laps
2. Clay Richards (Melbourne Performance Centre, Audi RS 3 LMS), 1.1056
3. Josh Buchan (HMO Customer Racing, Hyundai Elantra N), 4.6248
Winton – Race 3
1. Bailey Sweeny (HMO Customer Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 18 laps
2. Josh Buchan (HMO Customer Racing, Hyundai Elantra N), 20.4691
3. Zac Soutar (Team Soutar Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS II), 20.8620
Championship points
1. B. Sweeny, 387 pts; 2. J. Buchan, 351; 3. J. Cox, 326
Picture: TCR Australia/Daniel Kalisz
