Buchan storms to TCR title lead

Josh Buchan has made a massive leap to back to back TCR Australia titles after a productive trip to Sydney where Jordan Cox also made history.

Ahead of the Bathurst International finale, the championship has been turned on its head from a dramatic trip to Sydney Motorsport Park.

Zac Soutar entered the round with a 27-point advantage over Buchan, but now the Hyundai is 36 points ahead of the luckless Audi driver.

After losing ground on Saturday, things hit rock bottom for Soutar on the opening lap of the reverse grid affair.

The championship leader suffered a slow start before being caught up behind teammate Glenn Nirwan and Dylan O’Keeffe coming over the rise out of Turn 3.

The chain reaction saw Soutar clash with Brad Harris, with the #110 Audi RS3 cutting in front of Tony D’Alberto and head on into the concrete.

Before the incident triggered the Safety Car, Nirwan battled to get away from the reverse grid pole, which released Ben Bargwanna into the ascendancy ahead of teammate Cox.

As a result the special sight of the two new Peugeot P51 308 TCRs led the field, while the older spec machine of Aaron Cameron flew around the outside of five cars to soar from last to fourth.

At the restart Cameron jumped Brad Harris to make it a GRM 1-2-3 before the latter clashed with the other Peugeot of Ryan Casha.

The Wall Racing Honda then came together with Nirwan at Turn 8.

On Lap 6 the intra-team battle for a famous victory fired up with Cox forcing his way past Bargwanna.

Bargwanna had no response as he slipped to sixth, while Cameron also threatened to challenge before the #18 308 was wiped out by Tom Oliphant.

“This was 100% my fault,” Oliphant admitted to 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.”

As all of this was unfolding around him, Buchan made important moves to gain further ground in the championship by securing third.

The hard work saw the #1 becoming embroiled in a four-way fight for the lead that also involved O’Keeffe and Harris.

However, Cox was determined not to let history get away from him and he ensured the Aussie designed, homologated and built Peugeot P51 308 TCR victory in just 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.”

Cox finished three tenths clear of O’Keeffe with Buchan also less than a second away.

To complete a convincing weekend, Buchan won a tight final race and secured round honours.

Amazingly and critically Soutar’s squad was able to repair his significantly damaged Audi and get it on track to collect points in the final race.

Despite being off the pace, Soutar was able to collect some points with eighth.

D’Alberto was denied the same opportunity with his Honda still on the sidelines.

The combined points grid saw Buchan and O’Keeffe share the front row and their battle turned into a race-long affair.

O’Keeffe put himself on the back foot straight away by bogging down his Lynk & Co, sinking to fifth. Buchan retained the lead ahead of Brad Harris.

Despite also clashing with Will Harris at Corporate Hill, O’Keeffe was on the charge.

He passed Cox on Lap 4 and snatched second from Harris five laps later in an entertaining battle.

O’Keeffe then set his sights on Buchan and reeled him in at six tenths per lap to set up a thrilling finale.

The Ashley Seward Motorsport driver had a couple of looks at Turns 5 and 6, but ended up falling four tenths short as Buchan held on to a championship-changing win.

Despite starting last Cameron produced another impressive comeback to join them on the podium.

Cox sat fifth, but slowed out of contention and retired after 12 laps.

After a championship-changing weekend, Buchan is in the box seat ahead of the finale at Mount Panorama on November 8-10.

TCR Australian Sydney round results

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