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Brown Untouchable in Queensland Opener
MPC Team LIQUI MOLY’s Will Brown led from start to finish in the opening race of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series at Queensland Raceway, as he continues his dominant weekend.
Brown made the most of a tough day for championship leader Bailey Sweeny to claim a dominant victory, finishing with over ten seconds in hand on the rest of the field.
A potentially crucial moment in the championship race occurred before the lights turned out, as Sweeny was unable to take his front row starting spot on the grid after his Hyundai failed to fire with a battery issue.
A bad situation only got worse for the New South Welshman, as although he got his car to pit exit to start the race, it once again wouldn’t fire after the field went past, losing the best part of two laps whilst the issue was resolved.
There was even more drama when the lights went out, as Tim Slade stalled at the start from fourth on the grid, the field doing a great job to avoid the stationary Lynk & Co.
Brown made the most of being the only driver on the front row, pushing his gap out to the best part of a second over the Honda of Tony D’Alberto in the opening stanza of the race.
Whilst Brown continued to stretch his lead as the race progressed, there were several battles raging throughout the field, with a three car battle for tenth between the Audi of Lachlan Mineeff, the Honda of Brad Harris, and the recovering Slade carrying extra significance due to the reverse top ten race that kicks off tomorrow’s proceedings.
At the halfway point, Brown had a gap of over five seconds on the Honda of D’Alberto, who was beginning to fall into the clutches of Zac Soutar’s Audi in third.
The second half of the race settled into a rhythm after the frantic opening stages, as Brown continued to increase his margin, whilst D’Alberto was also able to put a little buffer between he and Soutar in the fight for second.
D’Alberto would hold onto second, with Soutar in behind, followed by Jordan Cox in the Schaeffler Peugeot, with Josh Buchan salvaging what was an otherwise tough day for HMO Customer Racing in fifth.
The top ten was rounded out by Ben Bargwanna, Aaron Cameron, Kody Garland, Michael Clemente. and Brad Harris, who will start from pole position in tomorrow’s reverse top ten race.
The Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series returns to the track for Race Two at 12:45pm tomorrow, before the third and final race of the weekend commences at 4:15pm.
You can catch all the action live, ad-break free, and on demand on Stan Sport.