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Harris Holds on in Reverse Top Ten Thriller
Brad Harris has added his name to the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series honour roll after holding off Aaron Cameron and Will Brown in a thrilling Race Two at Queensland Raceway.
Harris, who made his TCR Australia debut in Round Two of the season at Phillip Island, made the most of his reverse top ten pole to claim a memorable victory in the first of two races to be held today, though he didn’t have it all his own way at the start.
The Carl Cox Motorsport Cupra of Michael Clemente got the jump off the line, though there was a suggestion of a possible jump start, whilst Harris was swamped from his pole position, almost being speared by Kody Garland’s Valvoline Racing GRM Peugeot at turn one.
Garland had to take to the inside kerb to avoid the Executive Switchboards / Wall Racing Honda and the field stacked up behind, resulting in a wild first lap for those from fourth back, with Will Brown having a wild moment at turn four after contact with x.
Attention quickly turned back to the front of the field, as Harris muscled his way back past Clemente on the Dick Johnson Straight, with the Cupra and the Honda going door to door in a heated battle, taking a lead he would never lose.
Aaron Cameron pulled an identical move in the Team Valvoline GRM Peugeot on the next lap, demoting Clemente to third, and soon into the clutches of Brown, who had made a demon start after being demoted to tenth on the grid by virtue of the reverse top ten grid.
Brown made his way past the Cupra on lap five at turn three, and set his sights on Cameron and Harris at the front of the field.
The lead trio began to accordion as the race settled into a rhythm, as Brown chipped away at the gap to Cameron, who was also closing in on Harris in the lead.
By lap fifteen, the top three cars were covered by a second, as Brown began to put serious pressure on Cameron for second, but was unable to make his way by the Peugeot.
Cameron was able to latch onto the rear of Harris on the penultimate lap, but the New South Welshman was able to hold on to claim victory by just under half a second from Cameron, with Brown just over a second off Harris in third.
Clemente claimed fourth, more than nine seconds off Harris, with Jordan Cox rounding out the top five in the Schaeffler GRM Peugeot ahead of Josh Buchan, who took the championship lead away from his HMO Customer Racing teammate Bailey Sweeny.
The Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series returns to the track for their third and final race at 4:20pm this afternoon, where Will Brown will be starting from pole.
You can catch all the action live, ad-break free, and on demand on Stan Sport.