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Buchan Sails Clear with Decisive Victory
Josh Buchan claimed victory in the final race and the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series round win at Race Sydney.
The Hyundai driver was pushed all the way by Dylan O’Keeffe, who recovered from a tardy start to challenge Buchan for the lead in the closing stages.
The field for the finale was down to 11 cars following the lap-1 incident in Race 2.
Tony D’Alberto’s Honda was unable to be repaired in time, but former points leader Zac Soutar made it back on track to keep his title hopes alive.
With the grid set by the combined points from the round so far, Buchan and O’Keeffe started from the front row.
However, while the #1 Hyundai rocketed off the line, the #11 Lynk & Co bogged down and sank to fifth, with Brad Harris leading the charge behind Buchan.
O’Keeffe was further in the wars around the lap, making contact with Will Harris at Corporate Hill in an incident that left the Honda driver to limp back to the pits and retirement.
Initially, it looked like Buchan and Harris were poised to repeat their race from Saturday afternoon, with the Hyundai ekeing out a two second margin in the early stages.
However, O’Keeffe was quickly recovering the lost ground. He dove past Race 2 winner Jordan Cox on lap 4, then picked off Harris for second after running side-by-side down the front straight on lap 9.
He then set to hauling in the #1 Hyundai, lopping 0.6s out of Buchan’s advantage on consecutive laps to bring him onto the leader’s tail on lap 12.
However, despite the Lynk & Co being stronger through the final two sectors, Buchan was able to do just enough to keep out of reach.
O’Keeffe had a couple of serious looks at Turn 5 and Turn 6 in the closing laps but was unable to deny Buchan his second win of the weekend.
“That one was really hard! Really really hard,” he told 7Sport.
“I didn’t have the car speed in the end but Ash (Seward, O’Keeffe’s team owner) and his boys did, pushed me all the way.”
Aaron Cameron finished third, barely two seconds behind them despite starting last on the grid – and with the bonus point for fastest lap – with Harris, Tom Oliphant, Ryan Casha and Ben Bargwanna next.
Cox was a late retirement from fifth place, suddenly slowing on lap 13 and rolling to a stop on the run to the final corners.
Soutar wasn’t a factor in his repaired Audi but made it to the chequered flag in eighth place to claim vital points, with teammate Glenn Nirwan the final finisher in ninth.
The final round of the 2024 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series will take place at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst International on November 8-10.