News
Lachlan Mineeff confirms plans for 2023 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia campaign
Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series privateer Lachlan Mineeff has confirmed his racing plans for the 2023 season.
He will miss the opening round at Symmons Plains for AWC Race Tasmania before returning to the series from Round 2 at Phillip Island.
Mineeff experienced an upturn of form after switching from Volkswagen to Audi last year, particularly at the finale at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst International where he scored a career-best of fifth place.
Preparations for 2023 will continue as Mineeff and the Purple Sector crew will test on the category’s new Kumho tyres ahead of the second round at Phillip Island where he will rejoin the field.
Although missing the first round is a setback, Mineeff is aiming to end the season strongly when the TCR World Tour hits Australian shores for two rounds later this year.
“Missing the opening round does put a dampener on our title aspirations, but as long as we can finish races and do well you never know,” said Mineeff.
“If you look back at the end of last year’s series there were a number of drivers in proper title contention with two, three or four DNFs beside their name. We’ve got to look at Tasmania as three DNFs and make sure we finish the races for the rest of the year to do really well.
“TCR Australia is very exciting and promising this season. The fact we’ve got the TCR World Tour joining at the end of the year is awesome. I think the ability for all Australia teams and drivers, especially us at Purple Sector to compare ourselves to the best in the world is really exciting.
“TCR is such a good platform, which allows this opportunity and I’m very keen to see what we can do for the rest of the year, plus we want to make sure everything we commit to is done right as well as to the best of our ability.”
The Audi was stripped during Christmas and work is being concluded on a refresh before Purple Sector test prior to Phillip Island where it will feature a new livery.
“We’ll be taking this time to make sure the Audi is up to spec and ready to go, so I think there is no reason it won’t be competitive this year,” Mineeff said.
“The new year brings in a fresh look and we’re excited to keep working with new and existing partners to put a really good campaign together this year.
“The morale is very high for the upcoming season, with a lot of really cool things to work on.”
The opening round of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series will be held as part of the AWC Race Tasmania on February 24-26 – the opening round of the Shannons SpeedSeries.
CLICK HERE for tickets to AWC Race Tasmania.
Stan Sport will provide live, uninterrupted and on-demand coverage of all Shannons SpeedSeries rounds. AWC Race Tasmania will also feature free-to-air broadcasting on the Nine Network’s digital channels on Saturday afternoon from 2-5pm (February 25).