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Cox Takes Landmark Victory in a Chaotic Clash
Jordan Cox took the maiden win for Garry Rogers Motorsport’s new Australian-built Peugeot in an action-packed Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series Race 2 at Race Sydney.
Cox fended off stern challenges from Dylan O’Keeffe and Josh Buchan to give the new P51-model Peugeot 308 a win in only its second race.
“It means a lot, I can’t be prouder of the GRM crew,” Cox told 7Sport.
“It’s an 18-month project, and there’s not many teams that get to build a car from a clean slate and showcase it, let alone win a trophy.”
The sprint was disastrous for Zac Soutar, however, who watched his series points lead evaporate with an opening-lap crash.
The inversion of Saturday’s top 10 finishing order for the Race 2 grid left a front row of Glenn Nirwan and Ben Bargwanna, while Race 1 victor Buchan lined up from the outside of row five, just ahead of the two older-model GRM Peugeots of Ryan Casha and Aaron Cameron after their assorted engine woes.
However, the Indonesian racer bogged down on the line allowing Bargwanna into the lead, while Cox muscled his way past into Moffat to put the new GRM Peugeots first and second.
But the big mover on the start was Cameron.
From last on the grid, he passed teammate Casha and a slow-starting Buchan off the line, drove around the outside of five cars through Moffat and then arrowed under Nirwan at Bond Bend to be an incredible fourth!
The drama unfolded behind him as the pack crested the rise out of Turn 3.
Bottled up behind Nirwan and O’Keeffe, a collision between Soutar and Brad Harris sent the #110 Audi across D’Alberto’s path and into the concrete wall, putting both he and the #2 Honda out on the spot.
The damage puts both cars in doubt for the final sprint of the weekend with less than three hours until Race 3 is scheduled to get underway.
The race resumed on lap 5 with the new P51-model Peugeots leading from Will Harris, Cameron, Nirwan, O’Keeffe, Tom Oliphant, Casha, Buchan and Brad Harris, who’d pitted for a front-left tyre change after the lap-1 scuffle.
Cameron immediately picked off Harris at Bond, while Buchan was also on the move from ninth.
He arrowed past Casha at Bond for eighth, then muscled past Nirwan at Turn 6, which triggered nose-to-tail contact between the #29 Audi, Brad Harris and Casha.
Nirwan and Harris came together again on the exit of Turn 8, the pair running wide and allowing Casha up to eighth.
At the front of the field, Cox found a way past Bargwanna to take the lead, while Cameron eased past the #71 Peugeot for second down the front straight to start lap 6.
However, Cameron’s hopes for victory ended at Bond Bend when Oliphant clattered into the side of the #18 Peugeot, dropping him to sixth.
The outcome was worse for the Englishman, who limped the #15 Hyundai back to the pits with a broken CV joint.
“This was 100% my fault,” Oliphant told 7Sport.
“We just had so much pace through Turn 1; I got inside Harris and (Bargwanna then) Aaron turned into the apex, which is his right, and I just had too much momentum. I can only apologise.”
The battle for the win became a four-way shootout, with Cox defending strongly from O’Keeffe and Will Harris, which allowed Buchan to move onto their tails.
The reigning champion soon moved to third behind the Lynk & Co, benefitting from a scuffle between O’Keeffe and Harris on the run through Corporate Hill, which led them to run three-wide through the Turn 8!
Cox was able to fend off O’Keeffe’s advances to take a remarkable win, while Buchan’s third placing gives him the points lead.
“Selfishly I’m very happy, but I don’t like to see that,” Buchan told 7Sport.
“I feel for Zac and the team, they’ve done a fantastic job all year and deserve to be at the front. Hopefully they can get the car turned around for Race 3.”
Will Harris hung on for fourth ahead of the recovering Cameron, with Bargwanna, Casha, Brad Harris and Nirwan completing the finishers.
The final Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series sprint at Race Sydney gets underway at 3:25pm AEDT.