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Will Brown gives his dad perfect Father’s Day gift
Young Will Brown gave his father Shane the best possible Father’s Day gift when he handed him a pair of first place trophies after the carsales TCR Australia Series weekend at Winton.
Brown swept both Sunday races after a runner-up run on Saturday from Pole Position to cement himself in top spot at the top of the championship table, with a 116-point margin over Dylan O’Keefe with just six races to run in the inaugural series.
Brown set a new record for a winning TCR margin when he romped home by 10.74 seconds with his Hyundai i30N in the final heat, refusing to slow down to improve the show or give his rivals a break.
“I’m not going to slow down? Why should I?,” said Brown.
Jason Bright and Aaron Cameron shared the seconds from the Sunday stoushes in Volkswagen Golfs, with veteran Russell Ingall moving up steadily and stealthily through the weekend for the final podium place in Race 3 with an Audi RS3.
“The car gets better as the races go on. I’m really enjoying myself,” said Ingall, who was also happy to rate his young rivals.
“It’s good to see young drivers coming along. If they were imbeciles I would tell you.”
Bright blew his chance for a second run to second when he stalled at the start of Race 3 in his Volkswagen Golf, eventually trailing home in 12th after starting from the front row.
“I got a good jump and then it just stalled. I hit every wrong button – the wipers, the pitlane speed limiter, the radio – while I was trying to re-start,” said Bright.
“Luckily no-one hit me. And the car was fast. We just have to keep it like that for the next race at Sandown.”
Brown is now clearly the driver to beat in TCR but his closest title rival, Dylan O’Keefe, has an Alfa Romeo Giulietta that has plenty of top speed for Sandown and he was out of luck at Winton including an unlucky puncture.
“I need to get back up there. I was moving forward, but …,” said O’Keefe.
Winton was a sub-par weekend for the Honda Civic drivers, as Tony D’Alberto could only finish sixth after three heats as he and John Martin were mostly towards the bottom of the top 10.
Chris Pither and James Moffat in Renault Meganes had even worse troubles, with Moffat hit by problems with the car’s drive-by-wire throttle and Pither finishing Race 2 in a wall.
For Brown, the plan now is to finish the championship with more wins and, even though he knows his Hyundai will be out-paced on the Sandown straights and will also be carrying success ballast, he is confident.
“I’m loving every second. There are always more boxes to tick,” Brown said.
“You can never get ahead of yourself. There are still six races to go. We’ll see what happens.”
Results, Race 3
| Pos | Num | Driver | Team | Car | Laps | Time |
| 1 | 30 | William Brown (Qld) | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai i30N | 18 | 25:36.7520 |
| 2 | 2 | Aaron Cameron (Vic) | Melbourne Performance Centre | Volkswagen Golf GTI | 18 | 25:47.4925 |
| 3 | 100 | Russell Ingall (Qld) | Melbourne Performance Centre | Audi RS 3 | 18 | 25:48.6514 |
| 4 | 11 | Nathan Morcom (NSW) | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai i30N | 18 | 25:58.2586 |
| 5 | 50 | Tony D’Alberto (Vic) | Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 26:01.4372 |
| 6 | 24 | John Martin (NSW) | Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 26:04.0364 |
| 7 | 777 | Andre Heimgartner (NZ) | Kelly Racing | Holden Astra | 18 | 26:07.2214 |
| 8 | 9 | Dylan O’Keeffe (Vic) | Ashley Seward Motorsport | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 18 | 26:07.9824 |
| 9 | 3 | Leanne Tander (Vic) | Melbourne Performance Centre | Audi RS 3 | 18 | 26:10.3471 |
| 10 | 62 | Hamish Ribarits (Vic) | Kelly Racing | Holden Astra | 18 | 26:12.3552 |
| 11 | 38 | Tim Brook (NSW) | Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 26:13.9717 |
| 12 | 8 | Jason Bright (Vic) | Taskforce / Alliance Autosport | Volkswagon Golf GTI | 18 | 26:16.6144 |
| 13 | 34 | James Moffat (Vic) | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Renault Megane RS | 18 | 26:19.3618 |
| 14 | 35 | Alexandra Whitley (Qld) | Alliance Autosport | Volkswagon Golf GTI | 18 | 26:24.0932 |
| 15 | 97 | Liam McAdam (Qld) | Melbourne Performance Centre | Audi RS 3 | 18 | 26:37.9190 |
| DNF | 6 | Molly Taylor (NSW) | Kelly Racing | Subaru WRX STi | 15 | 22:10.2359 |
| DNF | 37 | Bryce Fullwood (NT) | Kelly Racing | Subaru WRX STi | 11 | 16:12.8926 |
| DNF | 7 | Jordan Cox (NSW) | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 3 | 4:44.0271 |
Series Standings
| Pos | Driver | Points |
| 1 | William Brown | 538 |
| 2 | Dylan O’Keeffe | 422 |
| 3 | Tony D’Alberto | 393 |
| 4 | Nathan Morcom | 386 |
| 5 | Aaron Cameron | 379 |
| 6 | James Moffat | 315 |
| 7 | John Martin | 302 |
| 8 | Jason Bright | 284 |
| 9 | Russell Ingall | 275 |
| 10 | Leanne Tander | 220 |
| 11 | Alex Rullo | 209 |
| 12 | Jordan Cox | 179 |
| 13 | Garth Tander | 176 |
| 14 | Andre Heimgartner | 166 |
| 15 | Alexandra Whitley | 164 |
| 16 | Chris Pither | 158 |
| 17 | Hamish Ribarits | 118 |
| 18 | Molly Taylor | 116 |
| 19 | Jimmy Vernon | 77 |
| 20 | Michael Almond | 74 |
| 21 | Chelsea Angelo | 56 |
| 22 | Liam McAdam | 47 |
| 23 | Tim Brook | 46 |
| 24 | Jordan Michels | 46 |
| 25 | Jean-Karl Vernay | 42 |
| 26 | Rik Breukers | 40 |
| 27 | Bryce Fullwood | 10 |
| 28 | Aaron Seton | 0 |