News
FIA Motorsport Games entry an opportunity to open doors according to Aaron Cameron
Supercheap Auto TCR Australia young gun Aaron Cameron is hoping his performance in the FIA Motorsport Games next week will open doors for himself and his local rivals.
Already in Europe ahead of the event where Cameron will join an expanded Team Australia effort in racing a Team Clairet Sport Peugeot 308 TCR against a field including Belgium’s Gilles Magnus, Chris Smiley from England and veteran Dutch driver Tom Coronel at Paul Ricard, France.
To keep updated with TCR Australia like us on Facebook and to view the latest images follow our Instagram.
Cameron believes a strong performance against some of the best TCR drivers the world has to offer can highlight the talent assembled in Supercheap Auto TCR Australia.
“I think it could open some opportunities up and it is something we did look at when we got into TCR,” said Cameron.
“TCR is a world platform that you can go anywhere in the world, they’re all the same cars, so you just need to learn the track and be on it.
“Hopefully it does open up opportunities so we can do some more international races in the future.
“We’re an underrated series and when drivers have come out here before we’ve been competitive with them. At that stage when they came out, they knew the cars a lot more than us as we were in our first year. Now, we’re a few years down the track we have a good handle on the cars and when internationals do come out in the future like Teddy is at Bathurst, we can challenge them or if not win.”
Although eager to impress, Cameron knows the challenge will be stiff from a packed field with many holding prior knowledge of the Paul Ricard circuit.
“Competition-wise, it will be tough as there are a couple of race winners in both WTCR and TCR Europe I will be competing against,” he explained. “But I’m aiming to take it up to them to demonstrate the Aussies can do it, which will hopefully open it up for other guys in TCR Australia to go over to Europe and be successful.”
For Cameron, representing Australia in the FIA Motorsport Games was not an opportunity to miss as preparation began as soon as the deal was announced, with Team Clairet Sport providing additional support during the lead up.
“When we get over to Paul Ricard, we want to hit the ground running and give ourselves the best opportunity,” Cameron said.
“I’ve been using the simulator at Melbourne Performance Centre to learn Paul Ricard, which gives me an idea of where it goes left and right in addition to braking markers. We compared it to some onboard footage that we have and it all relates pretty well.
“The Clairets have been awesome so far. Obviously, they run a pretty professional Peugeot outfit in France, so I can’t wait to jump in the 308 TCR and race in something familiar to me. With the onboard footage and data, it’s been really helpful.”
Cameron’s campaign begins with the FIA Motorsport Games opening ceremony at Marseille on Wednesday, October 26.
Practice occurs on Friday, October 28, with another session before qualifying to be held on Saturday, October 29 ahead of a 25-minute opening event and 30-minute Main Race on Sunday, October 30.
Cameron will be captained by Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS competitor Stephen Grove, who will partner with son Brenton in the GT Cup event, while Matt Campbell contests the GT Sprint component.
Team Australia will be also represented in eSports and karting.
Keep an eye on the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia socials for all broadcast and session information.