Cupra has arrived in Australia ahead of its carsales TCR debut, and it could compete as early as the final round at The Bend next month.

The car has been purchased by Melbourne-based racing outfit Garage1, owned by long-time motorsport operators Marty Brant and John Evans.

Cupra is the performance subsidiary of Spanish car brand SEAT, whose cars were the original basis for all TCR cars back in 2014. 

Cupra is owned by the Volkswagen Audi Group (VAG), and with Melbourne Performance Centre already set up in Australia as VAG’s official agent, Garage1 will have premium access to local components and information.

The car that Garage1 has purchased was raced in Germany and received the 2019 updates before being brought to Australia.

The team says that it would like to compete in the final round of the series at The Bend, however, a number of deals will need to fall into line to make that a reality.

If the Cupra makes its debut at The Bend, it will be the 10th different brand of car to compete in the inaugural TCR Australia Series, with Peugeot also set to join the ranks at the South Australian venue.

Garage1 is planning on expanding in the future, stating it would like to add more Cupras to its fleet.

The final round of the 2019 carsales TCR Australia Series will be held at The Bend Motorsport Park on November 15-17. The event will include the second running of the S5000 race cars after their popular debut at Sandown two weeks ago.

QUOTES

Marty Brant
Owner, Garage1

“We decided to go to TCR a few months ago. It’s good racing and we feel it’s the category to be in,” said Marty Brant.

“We chose the Cupra because it’s different and we see a good future in it. It’s very competitive overseas, and the benefit of the Cupra is that we can use Melbourne Performance Centre as our base for parts and help if we need it.

“We’d like to expand to at least two cars in the future. We see that as the best model for us. More would be even better.

“We’d like to be at The Bend for the final round,. It’ snot a priority, but we are working on a couple of deals to make that happen. We’ll just have to see what happens.

“John and I are both Kiwis, and we’d both love to go back home and race in TCR New Zealand. It’s not a priority, but if the opportunity is there, we’d certainly look at it. 

“this class really takes me back to the Group A days where you can take any of these cars and race anywhere in the world.”

John Evans
Owner, Garage1

“As far as we can see, TCR is the future for Australian motorsport,” said John Evans.

“It is and interesting and exciting class, full of variety. They are proper little race cars. There’s enough there for an engineer or mechanic to spark the interest, and they are very race and reward the driver too. It’s a real good challenge.

“The Cupra is a really nice car, and the one that we have has been well looked after. We feel that it is going to be a very competitive package and we are looking forward to getting it on track soon.”