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Tufflift Racing Kicks Off Two Car Era with Top Five
Tufflift Racing has kicked off their expansion to two cars with an equal-best qualifying effort and fifth in the Drivers’ Standings for Zac Soutar, while Glenn Nirwan made his debut in the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series.
Soutar’s weekend started in fine style as he put his #110 Tufflift Racing Audi second on the grid, and just half a tenth of a second away from pole position. In race one, Soutar battled aggressively to finish in fourth. Starting from seventh in the reverse top 10 race two grid, Soutar carved his way back to fourth position by the chequered flag. To cap off a consistent weekend, it was another fourth-place finish in the weekend’s final race.
The results leave Soutar fourth in the standings, and just nine points off the series lead.
For Nirwan it was a weekend of learning, as the Indonesian driver stepped into TCR Australia for the first time. Racing an Audi RS3 TCR, run by Melbourne Performance Centre for round one, Nirwan showed good pace and made significant progress across the weekend. Despite the challenges of adapting to a new environment and circuit, Nirwan’s determination shone through as he made strides forward every time he hit the circuit.
Limited running due to a gearbox issue on Friday didn’t dampen Nirwan’s spirits, and he made inroads during each race he completed across Saturday and Sunday to move closer and closer to the frontrunning pace.
Round two for the 2024 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series takes place from March 15-17 at AWC Race Tasmania, as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries. All the action will be live and free on the Seven Network.
Tickets can be purchased via https://racetasmania.com.au/event-info/ticketing/
Quotes
Zac Soutar – Driver – Car #110 – Tufflift Racing
“We’ve had a really solid weekend here at Sandown, the car had fantastic pace all weekend,” said Soutar.
“It’s always a little frustrating when you’re so close to a podium but don’t quite end up on one of the steps, but we’ll take confidence from the fact that the car has the speed and we have a great haul of points to start the new season.
“We’ll now zero our focus in on the next round of the series at Symmons Plains down in Tassie in mid-March,” concluded Soutar.
Glenn Nirwan – Driver – Car #29 – Tufflift Racing
“Last weekend wasn’t the best weekend for me, but we did everything we can,” said Nirwan.
“Gearbox failure in practice one really didn’t help me, so we only had eight laps of practice before race one. With a new track and everything I gave it my best. Sorry for the accident in race two, it was my fault.
“With only 30 minutes to repair the car, the team did a mega job to get me out for Race 3. As much as it wasn’t the smoothest weekend, I’ve now had some great seat time to get use to the car, new tyres and the track.
“I’d like to thank all the sponsors, Tufflift Racing, MPC and Team Soutar Motorsport for the warm welcome to TCR Australia,” concluded Nirwan.