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TCR Australia Rewind – Chaos at Phillip Island
On course to score the first ever clean-sweep in Supercheap Auto TCR Australia at just the second meeting, then-Ashley Seward Motorsport driver Dylan O’Keeffe weekend ended in heavy contact.
A slight touch between he and eventual inaugural series winner Will Brown spun the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR at Turn 1, but all was fine until the Wall Racing Honda Civic Type R TCR of John Martin careered backwards into the side of O’Keeffe.
Heavy contact required plenty of repairs for both entries approaching the next round at Queensland Raceway.
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“It was a shame for our weekend to finish like that, after all the hard work from Ash Seward and the team, I really wanted to reward them with a clean sweep,” O’Keeffe said post-race.
“The contact I had with Will was very light and in normal circumstances it would have been fine, but the rear tyres on these TCR cars take a while to warm up, and because it was the first lap, I had no rear grip.
“After that, it was just unfortunate that a couple of other cars crashed into me, otherwise I would have just driven away.
“The rest of the weekend was a dream – the car was very good as soon as we rolled out onto the track, and we just kept fine-tuning it.
“In qualifying and the races, it was brilliant.”
Martin had started further back in the field as a combination of contact and cold rear-tyres left him spinning out of control at Turn 1.
“I got turned around in the middle of Turn 1 and you can’t stop when you get on the grass,” Martin explained.
“Sailing back, I didn’t know what was out there and O’Keeffe just happened to be in the wrong spot.
“It was a pretty big hit.”
The next rounds of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series will be held at The Bend Motorsport Park on October 15-17.