2023 Race Sydney Explained

2023 Race Sydney will be the seventh round of nine in the 2023 TCR World Tour. It is scheduled to be held on 3–4 November 2023 at Sydney Motorsport Park in Eastern Creek, New South Wales, Australia. The event will also be the sixth round of seven in the 2023 TCR Australia Touring Car Series.^[1]

Report

Background

The event will be the first staging of an international touring car championship in Australia since the 1987 Calder Park 500, held as part of the 1987 World Touring Car Championship for Group A.^[2]

In the TCR World Tour standings, Norbert Michelisz led Yann Ehrlacher by 4 points in the drivers' championship, and Cyan Racing led BRC Racing Team by 116 points in the teams' championship. In the TCR Australia standings, Bailey Sweeny led Joshua Buchan by 30 points in the drivers' championship.

Entry list

A total of 25 cars have been entered, including entries from TCR World Tour and TCR Australia.

Team Car Drivers Class Wall Racing Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5) 1 Tony D'Alberto A Garry Rogers Motorsport Peugeot 308 TCR 4 Jimmy Clairet A Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021) 9 Will Brown A Melbourne Performance Centre Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2017) 14 Lachlan Mineeff A Garry Rogers Motorsport Peugeot 308 TCR 18 Aaron Cameron A Melbourne Performance Centre Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2017) 22 Iain McDougall A HMO Customer Racing Hyundai Elantra N TCR 30 Josh Buchan A Garry Rogers Motorsport Peugeot 308 TCR 33 Jordan Cox A Garry Rogers Motorsport Peugeot 308 TCR 41 Kody Garland A Garry Rogers Motorsport Peugeot 308 TCR 71 Ben Bargwanna A Wall Racing Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8) 74 Brad Harris A Wall Racing 76 Will Harris A BRC Racing Team Hyundai Elantra N TCR 105 W Team Soutar Motorsport Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021) 110 Zac Soutar A Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR 111 Thed Björk W Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR 112 Santiago Urrutia W Ashley Seward Motorsport Lynk & Co 03 TCR 115 Tom Oliphant A Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021) 122 Frédéric Vervisch W Wall Racing Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5) 129 Néstor Girolami W HMO Customer Racing Hyundai i30 N TCR 130 Bailey Sweeny A Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR 155 Ma Qinghua W Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR 168 Yann Ehrlacher W Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021) 179 Robert Huff W BRC Racing Team Hyundai Elantra N TCR 196 Mikel Azcona W Source:^[3]

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Icon Status W TCR World Tour entries A TCR Australia entries

Entry changes

• Michael Clemente had withdrawn from the event due to budget issues.
• Kody Garland did not compete in the races as a result of excessive damage to his car following a technical failure-caused accident during the practice session.

Race 1

The first race was held in wet conditions at night. Local driver Will Brown claimed victory having led the vast majority of the race, which had to be red-flagged just shy of halfway after a number of cars went off following a deluge of rain. World Tour drivers Mikel Azcona and Ma Qinghua completed the podium, with championship challenger Yann Ehrlacher penalised for a Safety Car infringement.^[4]

Results

Practice summary

Session	No.	Driver	Team	Car	Time
Warm Up	30				1:34.5825
Practice 1	111	Thed Björk	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	1:35.2179
	111	Thed Björk	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	1:34.7565

Qualifying

			Driver	Team	Car	Times		Points
						Qualifying 1
1	A	71	Ben Bargwanna	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Peugeot 308 TCR	+3.6770	1:37.8033	15	10
2	A	9	Will Brown		Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	+0.8491	+0.7921	10	7
3	W	196	Mikel Azcona	BRC Racing Team	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	1:40.8794	+1.0413	8
4	A	130	Bailey Sweeny	HMO Customer Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	+1.3978	+1.5546	6	5
5	W	179	Robert Huff	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	+2.4923	+3.8706	4
6	W	155	Ma Qinghua	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	+0.9856	+4.3068	2
7	A	30	Joshua Buchan	HMO Customer Racing	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	+2.6810	+5.3960		3
8	W	105		BRC Racing Team	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	+2.0434	+5.4137
9	A	4	Jimmy Clairet	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Peugeot 308 TCR	+3.3295	+7.0083		2
10	A	110	Zachary Soutar	Team Soutar Motorsport	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	+2.6699	+7.2923
11	A	22	Iain McDougall	Melbourne Performance Centre	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2017)	+4.1280
12	W	129	Néstor Girolami	Wall Racing	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5)	+4.3419
13	W	168	Yann Ehrlacher	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	+4.7326
14	A	1	Tony D'Alberto	Wall Racing	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5)	+5.2848
15	W	111	Thed Björk	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	+5.3777
16	W	112	Santiago Urrutia	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	+5.9688
17	A	18	Aaron Cameron	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Peugeot 308 TCR	+6.6882
18	A	115	Thomas Oliphant	Ashley Seward Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	+6.8936
19	W	122	Frédéric Vervisch	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	+7.8618
20	A	74	Bradley Harris	Wall Racing		+8.6676
21	A	33	Jordan Cox	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Peugeot 308 TCR	+9.7104
22	A	76	William Harris	Wall Racing	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	+10.2376
23	A	14	Lachlan Mineeff	Melbourne Performance Centre	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2017)	+15.0488
Sources:^[5] ^[6]

Race 1

			Driver	Team	Car	Laps	Time / Retired	Grid	Points
1	A	9	Will Brown		Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	17	51:07.3619	2	30	50
2	W	196	Mikel Azcona	BRC Racing Team	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	17	+7.3892	3	25
3	W	155	Ma Qinghua	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	17	+11.6553	6	22
4	W	179	Robert Huff	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	17	+15.6957	5	20
5	W	122	Frédéric Vervisch	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	17	+15.9925	19	18
6	W	168	Yann Ehrlacher	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	17	+16.4280	13	16
7	A	18	Aaron Cameron	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Peugeot 308 TCR	17	+16.6877	17	14	46
8	W	105		BRC Racing Team	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	17	+19.4938	8	12
9	W	111	Thed Björk	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	17	+19.9734	15	10
10	W	129	Néstor Girolami	Wall Racing	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5)	17	+20.6692	11	8
11	A	33	Jordan Cox	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Peugeot 308 TCR	17	+20.9922	21	6	44
12	A	115	Thomas Oliphant	Ashley Seward Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	17	+27.8268	18	4	42
13	A	14	Lachlan Mineeff	Melbourne Performance Centre	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2017)	17	+28.6374	23	3	40
14	A	130	Bailey Sweeny	HMO Customer Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	17	+30.0708	4	2	38
15	A	1	Tony D'Alberto	Wall Racing	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5)	17	+31.6319	14	1	36
16	A	30	Joshua Buchan	HMO Customer Racing	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	17	+32.4393	7		34
17	A	74	Bradley Harris	Wall Racing		17	+37.2872	20		32
18	A	71	Ben Bargwanna	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Peugeot 308 TCR	17	+38.1428	1		30
19	A	4	Jimmy Clairet	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Peugeot 308 TCR	17	+39.7776	12		28
20	A	22	Iain McDougall	Melbourne Performance Centre	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2017)	17	+43.6663	10		26
21	A	76	William Harris	Wall Racing	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	17	+53.7850	22		25
DNF	W	112	Santiago Urrutia	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	12		16
DNF	A	110	Zachary Soutar	Team Soutar Motorsport	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	2		9
Fastest lap: Ma Qinghua (Cyan Racing), 1:37.0422
Sources:^[7] ^[8]

• – Ehrlacher received a 5-second post-race time penalty for a safety car infringement.

Race 2

			Driver	Team	Car	Laps	Time / Retired	Grid	Points
1	A	9	Will Brown		Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	17	30:22.5969	10	30	40
2	W	179	Robert Huff	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	17	+3.4963	7	25
3	W	122	Frédéric Vervisch	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	17	+3.9116	6	22
4	W	105		BRC Racing Team	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	17	+4.9157	3	20
5	A	30	Joshua Buchan	HMO Customer Racing	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	17	+5.4325	16	18	36
6	A	130	Bailey Sweeny	HMO Customer Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	17	+7.4825	14	16	34
7	A	115	Thomas Oliphant	Ashley Seward Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	17	+8.0442	12	14	32
8	A	18	Aaron Cameron	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Peugeot 308 TCR	17	+8.1952	4	12	30
9	W	168	Yann Ehrlacher	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	17	+12.8564	5	10
10	W	112	Santiago Urrutia	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	17	+14.1491	22	8
11	A	14	Lachlan Mineeff	Melbourne Performance Centre	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2017)	17	+17.4328	13	6	28
12	A	1	Tony D'Alberto	Wall Racing	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5)	17	+18.8901	15	4	26
13	A	74	Bradley Harris	Wall Racing		17	+19.8984	17	3	24
14	A	33	Jordan Cox	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Peugeot 308 TCR	17	+21.0085	11	2	22
15	A	76	William Harris	Wall Racing	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	17	+23.0228	21	1	20
16	A	110	Zachary Soutar	Team Soutar Motorsport	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	17	+25.8094	23		18
17	A	4	Jimmy Clairet	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Peugeot 308 TCR	17	+28.5379	19		16
18	A	22	Iain McDougall	Melbourne Performance Centre	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2017)	17	+35.4432	20		15
19	W	196	Mikel Azcona	BRC Racing Team	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	16	+1 lap	8
DNF	A	71	Ben Bargwanna	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Peugeot 308 TCR	15	Misfire	18
DNF	W	111	Thed Björk	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	7	Crash damage	2
DNF	W	155	Ma Qinghua	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	7		9
DNF	W	129	Néstor Girolami	Wall Racing	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5)	2		1
Fastest lap: Joshua Buchan (HMO Customer Racing), 1:36.0981
Sources:^[9] ^[10]

• – Cameron and Bargwanna received five-second post-race time penalties for false starts.
• – Soutar and Clairet received five-second post-race time penalties for exceeding track limits.

Race 3

			Driver	Team	Car	Laps	Time / Retired	Grid	Points
1	W	179	Robert Huff	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	17	27:33.0141	2	30
2	W	105		BRC Racing Team	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	17	+4.3310	4	25
3	A	9	Will Brown		Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	17	+7.3299	1	22	50
4	W	122	Frédéric Vervisch	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	17	+9.4385	3	20
5	A	30	Joshua Buchan	HMO Customer Racing	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	17	+12.9729	9	18	46
6	W	196	Mikel Azcona	BRC Racing Team	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	17	+24.9618	7	16
7	W	168	Yann Ehrlacher	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	17	+25.1915	5	14
8	W	129	Néstor Girolami	Wall Racing	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5)	17	+25.9300	19	12
9	W	155	Ma Qinghua	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	17	+25.9717	11	10
10	A	1	Tony D'Alberto	Wall Racing	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5)	17	+26.0663	13	8	44
11	A	130	Bailey Sweeny	HMO Customer Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	17	+26.2050	8	6	42
12	W	112	Santiago Urrutia	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	17	+26.6346	22	4
13	A	115	Thomas Oliphant	Ashley Seward Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	17	+26.9020	10	3	40
14	A	14	Lachlan Mineeff	Melbourne Performance Centre	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2017)	17	+27.3049	12	2	38
15	W	111	Thed Björk	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	17	+28.9423	15	1
16	A	33	Jordan Cox	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Peugeot 308 TCR	17	+33.2414	16		36
17	A	110	Zachary Soutar	Team Soutar Motorsport	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021)	17	+33.6504	23		34
18	A	18	Aaron Cameron	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Peugeot 308 TCR	17	+34.0631	6		32
19	A	74	Bradley Harris	Wall Racing		17	+34.7797	14		30
20	A	4	Jimmy Clairet	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Peugeot 308 TCR	17	+35.2755	17		28
21	A	22	Iain McDougall	Melbourne Performance Centre	Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2017)	17	+54.5130	21		26
22	A	76	William Harris	Wall Racing	Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8)	17	+1:21.9377	20		25
DNF	A	71	Ben Bargwanna	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Peugeot 308 TCR	11	Turbo	18
Fastest lap: Mikel Azcona (BRC Racing Team), 1:36.0279
Sources:^[11] ^[12]

• – Brown and Vervisch received five-second post-race time penalties for false starts.

Championship standings

TCR World Tour drivers' standings

Pos	Pilot		Gap
1	Norbert Michelisz	327
2	Robert Huff	326	-1
3	Yann Ehrlacher	306	-21
4	Mikel Azcona	289	-38
5	Frédéric Vervisch	257	-70

TCR World Tour teams' standings

	Driver		Gap
1	Cyan Racing	727
2	BRC Racing Team	626	-101
3	Comtoyou Racing	610	-117

TCR Australia drivers' standings

	Driver		Gap
1	Bailey Sweeny	708
2	Joshua Buchan	679	-29
3	Aaron Cameron	659	-49
4	Tony D'Alberto	612	-96
5	Jordan Cox	598	-110

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of drivers' standings.

External links

• Official website

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Notes and References

1. News: Race Sydney, Bathurst International schedules out. V8 Sleuth. 18 October 2023.
2. News: ULTIMATE GUIDE: Why TCR World Tour's arrival Down Under is so significant. Nine's Wide World of Sports. 2 November 2023.
3. Web site: 2023 - Entry list 05 - TCR Australia + TCR World Tour - Sydney V1. tcr-worldranking.com. 2023-10-30.
4. News: Brown beats overseas stars in wet, wild Sydney TCR encounter. Speedcafe. 3 November 2023.
5. News: 2023 Shannons Speed Series - Race Sydney - Round 7 SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK GARDNER 2023 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series - Qualifying 1. Natsoft. 3 November 2023.
6. News: 2023 Shannons Speed Series - Race Sydney - Round 7 SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK GARDNER 2023 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series - Qualifying 2. Natsoft. 3 November 2023.
7. News: 2023 Shannons Speed Series - Race Sydney - Round 7 SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK GARDNER 2023 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series - Race 1. Natsoft. 3 November 2023.
8. News: 2023 Shannons Speed Series - Race Sydney - Round 7 SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK GARDNER 2023 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series - Race 1 GRID SHEET. Natsoft. 3 November 2023.
9. News: 2023 Shannons Speed Series - Race Sydney - Round 7 SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK GARDNER 2023 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series - Race 2. Natsoft. 4 November 2023.
10. News: 2023 Shannons Speed Series - Race Sydney - Round 7 SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK GARDNER 2023 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series - Race 2 GRID SHEET. Natsoft. 4 November 2023.
11. News: 2023 Shannons Speed Series - Race Sydney - Round 7 SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK GARDNER 2023 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series - Race 3. Natsoft. 4 November 2023.
12. News: 2023 Shannons Speed Series - Race Sydney - Round 7 SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK GARDNER 2023 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series - Race 3 GRID SHEET. Natsoft. 4 November 2023.