New Peugeot 308 TCR racers revealed
Ben Bargwanna and Jordan Cox have been confirmed as the lucky drivers steering the Peugeot 308 P51 TCRs developed by Garry Rogers Motorsport in its global debut at SMP.
They are the two leading contenders of the GRM Peugeot quartet in the championship with Aaron Cameron and Ryan Casha to race the previous generation.
The penultimate round of the 2024 TCR Australia season will be the first time the brand new Peugeot 308 P51 TCR goes racing having been designed, homologated and built in Australia by GRM.
The team completed a final shakedown at Calder Park today (Wednesday) ahead of Friday when Race Sydney kicks off.
Bargwanna was the first to steer the 308 P51 TCR at its Sandown shakedown and since then GRM have made some minor modifications.
Ben Bargwanna’s new look livery on his new TCR.
The second generation driver cannot wait for the historic weekend and is aware it will be one full of learning.
“It’s a new opportunity, it’s something we’ve been looking forward to for a very long time,” said Bargwanna.
“We finally get the chance to shake down the new Peugeot and I’m very optimistic about what the weekend will bring.
“It is a bit of a ball in the air type situation, we’re not exactly sure how it will go but I’m excited. Can’t wait to just get out there in practice one and finally turn some laps in Sydney.
“If you go from the rear taillight to the front headlight, basically everything is different to the old car so there’s going to be a lot to learn for sure.
“There’s a lot that we need to understand about it, which will take a while but that’s all part of it.”
Cox, who sits second in the standings, enjoyed his first drive of the car at Calder Park and is confident of the new car’s promise.
“We’re expecting a good and solid consistent performance. It’s still very much early days for this car, so it’s foolish to think we’d be getting the most out of it,” said Cox.
A different take for Jordan Cox’s familiar look on his new 308 P51.
“On paper, the spec of the P51 is much better than the previous generation. We’d hope to be fighting for the podium position at least and then have something to build on for the next event at Bathurst.
“The tuning ability of the car and the drivability are two areas that we should really notice a difference.
“GRM did a great job of tuning the last car up to the maximum of its performance ceiling, and along the way we learnt the limitations of that car.
“The luxury of building a new car is knowing what we need to improve on, it already looks like the team have done a great job of that.
“How that translates on track, we’ll find out soon.”
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