Will Brown gives his dad the perfect Father's Day gift with two Winton wins

Young Will Brown gave his father Shane the best possible Father’s Day gift when he handed him a pair of first place trophies after the carsales TCR Australia Series weekend at Winton Motor Raceway today.

Brown swept both Sunday races after a runner-up run on Saturday from pole position to cement himself in top spot at the top of the championship table, with a 116-point margin over Dylan O’Keefe with just six races to run in the inaugural series.

Brown set a new record for a winning TCR margin when he romped home by 10.74 seconds with his Hyundai i30N in the final race, refusing to slow down to improve the show or give his rivals a break.

Race 1 winner Jason Bright and Aaron Cameron shared the seconds from the Sunday stoushes in Volkswagen Golfs, with veteran Russell Ingall moving up steadily and stealthily through the weekend for the final podium place in Race 3 with an Audi RS3.

Bright blew his chance to challenge Brown when he stalled at the start of Race 3 in his Golf, eventually trailing home in 12th after starting from the front row.

Brown’s closest title challenger Dylan O’Keefe had a tyre failure in Race 2, dropping him to the back for Race 3. He made up some ground through the field, coming home eighth in his Alfa Romeo Giulietta. The straight line top speed will suit his car at Sandown, but he has a mountain to climb if he is to get on top of Brown.

Winton was a sub-par weekend for the Honda Civic drivers, as Tony D’Alberto could only finish sixth after three heats as he and John Martin were mostly towards the bottom of the top 10.

Chris Pither and James Moffat in Renault Meganes had even worse troubles, with Moffat hit by problems with the car’s drive-by-wire throttle and Pither finishing Race 2 collecting wall. The damage was too much to make it Race 3. 

The penultimate round of the series will be held at Sandown Raceway, which promises to be a landmark race meeting for Australian motorsport with the debut of the new S5000 open-wheeler class. The event will be held on September 20-22.

QUOTES

Will Brown
Driver, HMO Customer Racing Hyundai

"It was nearly the perfect weekend for us," said Will Brown.

"I didn’t get the best start in Race 1 and finished second, but to get two wins today and a lap record is sensational.

"I can’t thank the team at HMO Customer Racing enough, the car was on rails

"I knew coming to Winton it was going to be our event to perform at, its tight and technical and it suits the Hyundai’s characteristics.

"To extend the championship lead heading to Sandown as the long straights there will make things a little tougher than they have been this weekend."

Aaron Cameron
Driver, Melbourne Performance Centre Volkswagen

"It was going to be a strong circuit for the Volkswagen which it turned out to be, so to perform well and get two podiums today was awesome," said Aaron Cameron.

"The end goal for us is to aim for that top three in the championship, so it was good to get a decent points haul this weekend as we keep our head down and work forwards to the final two rounds at Sandown and The Bend."

Russell Ingall
Driver, Melbourne Performance Centre Volkswagen

"I ran out of talent in qualifying and started from tenth so we thought it was going to be a struggle to compete on a tight and twisty track like Winton," said Russell Ingall.

"We knew the car had pace, so to work our way forward today was really encouraging.

"I’m starting to get my head around what the car likes and it’s a very consistent package and seems to come home strong in each race.

"It was a great day for the Melbourne Performance Centre squad with Aaron Cameron doing a great job in second and getting two cars on the podium.

"It was a really good experience and hopefully we can come back for the final two rounds."