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Bargwanna Opens up on Title Contention Amid Career-Best Form
Ben Bargwanna has quickly emerged as one of the favourites in the race for the 2024 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series title, with the Garry Rogers Motorsport driver leading the way after three rounds.
It was a blistering weekend at the season-opening Sandown Raceway which paved the way for Bargwanna’s ascension in 2024, as he steered his Hangcha Forklifts Peugeot 308 TCR to two race victories and a maiden round win.
“Look you go into every year wanting to win, so this wasn’t any different, I knew I could win and I knew the team could as well,” said Bargwanna.
“It’s probably been a little bit of a surprise to be this good, and Sandown especially which had historically not been our best track. If we can keep it up for the rest of the year, we’re doing the work and executing at the right times, it wouldn’t be so surprising to stay at the front.”
If Bargwanna has at all faltered across the opening three rounds of the season, it was at Symmons Plains where the points leader recorded a ninth-place finish in the final race. The Peugeot was quickly back on song at Phillip Island however, with the #71 flying to second overall for the round.
The Peugeot 308 being campaigned by the four Garry Rogers Motorsport cars are some of the oldest cars in the field, but Bargwanna has so far shown the first-generation cars are more than capable of producing results.
“For sure, the Peugeot is one of the oldest cars available. We’ve worked really hard to maximise it, and we’re getting to a point where we’ve fine-tuned it to operate as well as any other car in its window and still be competitive.
“The newer cars have a few more bits on them which opens up the adjustability and the changes you can make, which is part of the reason the team are developing the new Peugeot.”
As Bargwanna touches on, GRM are responsible for designing and producing the all-new generation of Peugeot TCR for competition all around the world.
“All four of us have had input in ways to the new car, any time we give feedback on the current car it’s relatable to what the team can do with the new one. Everything we’ve done over the past three years is being put towards the development. My engineer is doing a lot of the design work for it, and we’ve spoken on it quite a bit.
“Whether my opinion holds any weight or not, who knows.”
Four rounds remain in the 2024 season, a return to Tailem Bend, Queensland Raceway and concluding with the NSW swing of Sydney Motorsport Park and Bathurst.
“The field has grown in talent and development by an astronomical amount. Within our team we’ve grown so much and understand these cars much better than even 12 months ago. You can see the drivers doing the same as well, after we got that taste of the World Tour the level of driving has gone to a new level.
“It’s going to be an interesting run to the end, we’re three rounds in and the points are still so close. I think it’ll be down to reliability really, we should be pretty quick for the rest of the year. The one who’s going to win is going to be whoever is able to do it all perfectly,” concluded Bargwanna.
The Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series resumes at Shell V-Power Motorsport Park from May 31-June 2 as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries, with live coverage on the Seven Network.