 | |
| Category | Touring cars |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Inaugural season | 2019 |
| Constructors | Audi Cupra Honda Hyundai Lynk & Co Peugeot |
| Tyre suppliers | Kumho |
| Drivers' champion | Josh Buchan |
| Official website | http://www.tcraustralia.com |
 Current season | |
The TCR Australia Touring Car Series is a touring car racing series based in Australia. The series is run as part of the Shannons Nationals series. [1]
The TCR Touring Car formula, introduced in 2014, is based on four or five door front-wheel drive production vehicles powered by 2.0 litre turbocharged engines. Since then, several global and regional TCR championships have been established and TCR regulations have been adopted in several series, including the World Touring Car Cup from 2018 onwards. [2] The performance of different models of car is managed and adjusted through a Balance of Performance system to attempt to maintain parity. [3]
Plans for an Australian TCR championship were floated as early as 2016, with a proposal for invitational entries in the Bathurst 12 Hour as well as a six-round championship commencing in 2017, to have been shared between Shannons Nationals and Supercars Championship, the premier touring car category in Australia, events. [4] A later proposal in 2017 included TCR cars running in a support class to the Australian GT Championship's GT Trophy series before launching a standalone series in 2018. [5] While neither plan eventuated, in January 2018 the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport announced they had secured the rights to develop a TCR series in Australia starting from 2019, with the Australian Racing Group later announced as the promoter of the series. [6] [7]
The inaugural season of TCR Australia in 2019 featured a seven-round calendar run at Shannons Nationals events. The championship begun with 17 entries with eight manufacturers, Alfa Romeo, Audi, Holden, Honda, Hyundai, Renault, Subaru and Volkswagen represented. [8] Supercars Championship teams Garry Rogers Motorsport, Kelly Racing and Matt Stone Racing were among the teams to prepare cars while former Bathurst 1000 winner Jason Bright became the championship's first race winner at Sydney Motorsport Park in a Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR. Will Brown, in a Hyundai i30 N TCR, won the two Sunday races at the first event and soon became a dominant force in the championship, winning four further races to wrap up the championship title at Sandown Raceway with one round to spare. [9] The series featured a wide range of guest drivers who entered selected rounds of the championship, including World Touring Car Cup regulars Jean-Karl Vernay and Néstor Girolami, who each won races in their only appearance, and former Supercars champions Garth Tander and Russell Ingall.
In 2020, TCR Australia planned to incorporate a round at Mount Panorama Circuit as part of the Bathurst 6 Hour Easter weekend, with the circuit to also host an international TCR endurance race later in the year. [10] An additional non-championship event, known as the TCR Asia Pacific Cup, will appear at the Australian Grand Prix, which eventuated after a bid for TCR Australia to be a support event to the Adelaide 500 was rejected. [11]
| Year | Winner | Car | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 |  Will Brown | Hyundai i30 N TCR | HMO Customer Racing |
| 2020 | Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | ||
| 2021 | Chaz Mostert | Audi RS 3 LMS TCR | Melbourne Performance Centre |
| 2022 | Tony D'Alberto | Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8) | Wall Racing |
| 2023 | Josh Buchan | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | HMO Customer Racing |
For the inaugural season in 2019, all TCR Australia races were shown live in Australia on free-to-air network SBS, as well as being streamed online. [3] For 2020, the Seven Network has entered an agreement to broadcast races live in Australia including the S5000 series. [12]
Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition that uses race prepared touring cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States.
Jason Eric Bargwanna is an Australian motor racing driver. Best known as a Supercars Championship competitor, Bargwanna raced in the series for 25 years, the pinnacle of which was winning, with Garth Tander, the 2000 Bathurst 1000 in a Garry Rogers Motorsport prepared Holden Commodore. Bargwanna was the Driving Standards Observer for the Supercars Championship from 2014 until 2016.
Sydney Motorsport Park is a motorsport circuit located on Brabham Drive, Eastern Creek, New South Wales, Australia, adjacent to the Western Sydney International Dragway. It was built and is owned by the New South Wales Government and is operated by the Australian Racing Drivers Club. The circuit is one of only two permanent tracks in Australia with an FIA Grade 2 license and is licensed for both cars and motorcycles.
Garry Rogers Motorsport is an Australian motor racing team. It is owned by retired racing driver Garry Rogers who began the team to further his own racing efforts. Based in Melbourne, originally out of a Nissan dealership owned by Rogers, the team has competed in a variety of touring car series in Australia ranging from relatively modest Nissan production cars to Chevrolet NASCAR race cars to building the GT specification Holden Monaro 427C. The team won the Bathurst 1000 in 2000 and also won both of the Bathurst 24 Hour races which were held in 2002 and 2003. In 2013 the team celebrated its 50th year in racing since Rogers made his debut.
The Shannons Supercar Showdown was an Australian reality television show based around the International V8 Supercars Championship, with drivers competing for a test driver role with Ford Performance Racing. Aired on 7mate in Australia, seasons two and three of the series have appeared in syndication in the United States on Vibrant TV Network.
Matt Stone Racing is an Australian racing team competing in the Supercars Championship under the commercial title Truck Assist Racing with two Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s. Jack Le Brocq drives the No. 34 car, while Todd Hazelwood drives the No. 35 car. They are also competing in the second-tier Dunlop Super2 Series with Aaron Seton and Ryal Harris.
Alexander Rullo is an Australian racing car driver. He currently drives in the TCR Australia Series for Kelly Racing. He is also co-driving with Simona de Silvestro in the No. 78 Nissan Altima in the Pirtek Enduro Cup.
William Brown is an Australian racing driver currently competing in the Repco Supercars Championship with Triple Eight Race Engineering, driving the No. 87 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. In 2017, Brown received the Mike Kable Young Gun Award, and was also awarded The Peter Brock Medal by the Confederation of Australian Motorsport (CAMS) for his outstanding year in racing.
The 2019 Supercars Championship was the twenty-first running of the Supercars Championship and the twenty-third series in which Supercars have contested the Australian Touring Car Championship, the premier title in Australian motorsport. The 2019 championship also included the running of the 1,000th Australian Touring Car Championship race, which was contested at the Melbourne 400.
The 2019 TCR Australia Touring Car Series season is the first season of the TCR Australia Touring Car Series. The series is run as part of the Shannons Nationals series.
The VHT S5000 Australian Drivers' Championship is a current open-wheel road racing series in Australia. The series was created by a merger between two proposed series, Formula Thunder 5000 and Super5000. The series is promoted by the Australian Racing Group.
The 2020 Supercars Championship was a motor racing series for Supercars. It was the twenty-second running of the Supercars Championship and the twenty-fourth series in which Supercars have contested the Australian Touring Car Championship, the premier title in Australian motorsport. Due to disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of rounds were rescheduled or cancelled.
The CAMS Australian S5000 Championship held two "launch events" or exhibition meetings in 2019, prior to the inaugural championship season in 2021. These meetings were held as part of the Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships, at Sandown Raceway on 21 and 22 September and The Bend Motorsport Park on 16 and 17 November.
The 2020 TCR Australia Series was to be an Australian motor racing competition for TCR cars. It was planned to be the second TCR Australia Series and was to be run as part of the renamed Motorsport Australia Championships. The Series was sanctioned by Motorsport Australia as a National Series with the Australian Racing Group appointed as the Category Manager.
The 2021 S5000 Australian Drivers' Championship, known by its sponsored identity the VHT S5000 Australian Drivers' Championship, was the inaugural season of the Australian S5000 Championship, run after a series of exhibition races in 2019. The series was sanctioned by Motorsport Australia (MA) and promoted by the Australian Racing Group as part of the 2020 and 2021 Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Series. The season was held over 4 rounds, it began in January at Symmons Plains Raceway and ended in May at Sydney Motorsport Park. Joey Mawson won the Australian Drivers' Championship title.
The 2021 Supercars Championship was a motor racing series for Supercars. It was the twenty-third running of the Supercars Championship and the twenty-fifth series in which Supercars have contested the Australian Touring Car Championship, the premier title in Australian motorsport. Atlanta-based international auto parts conglomerate Genuine Parts Company, through the consumer auto parts brand Repco, replaced Virgin Australia as naming rights sponsor under a five-year partnership, which was later expanded to eight years at the end of the 2022 prizegiving banquet.
The 2021 TCR Australia Series was an Australian motor racing competition for TCR Touring Cars. It was the second TCR Australia Touring Car Series. The series was sanctioned by Motorsport Australia as a National Series with the Australian Racing Group Pty Ltd appointed as the Category Manager. It was contested as part of the renamed Motorsport Australia Championships series.
The 2022 TCR Australia Series was the third season of the TCR Australia Touring Car Series. The series ran as part of the Motorsport Australia Championships series.
Benjamin Bargwanna is a racing driver from Australia. He is the son of Bathurst 1000 winner Jason Bargwanna and grandson to Australian Production Car Champion Harry Bargwanna.
The 2023 TCR Australia Series was the fourth season of the TCR Australia Touring Car Series. The series ran as part of SpeedSeries and featured two rounds as part of TCR World Tour.