Last year’s TCR Australia Series runner-up Zac Soutar is eager to go one better in 2025 after confirming his return to the category.

Soutar has risen through the ranks in TCR Australia to be a race winner, a regular front runner and finally a title contender last year driving his family-run Audi RS3 LMS TCR.

A graduate of Formula Ford, Soutar first entered TCR Australia in 2021 driving an ex-Wall Racing Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8) in which the next season he took victory at Symmons Plains.

For 2023, Team Soutar Motorsport raised the stakes and solidified its commitment to TCR Australia by purchasing the latest specification Audi RS3 LMS TCR to compete in the series.

The program further grew to include Indonesian Glenn Nirwan as teammate in an identical Audi last year as part of a two-car operation alongside Soutar.

Soutar will renew his rivalry with dual champion Josh Buchan following his confirmed return to HMO Customer Racing in a new Hyundai i30 N Sedan (Elantra) TCR for 2025.

Team Soutar Motorsport is searching for another driver to join its team in its second Audi RS3 LMS TCR. The Audi is the latest specification and enjoys race winning pedigree having secured two FIA Kumho TCR World Tour victories in the hands of Will Brown.

One Raceway in Goulburn, New South Wales will host the opening round of the 2025 TCR Australia Series.

QUOTES

Zac Soutar

Tufflift Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR

“I’m really excited to be coming back to TCR Australia in the Tufflift Racing Audi in 2025,” said Soutar

“We’ve had an amazing experience in the series so far; we love the racing, the cars and I’m grateful that we’ve been able to put together another opportunity to come back and go again.

“We came up short last year, despite having such a great season and leading for a long time in the series, but unfortunately we didn’t quite get there in the end. We’re looking to go one better in 2025, so we’ll be giving it everything to try and make that happen.

“It’s a compact calendar, but it’s a pretty cool one at that. The first two circuits are in a rural setting in One Raceway and Winton, which is going to be fantastic. Those two circuits don’t often get big events, so to bring TCR to those tracks in front of what will hopefully be a large rural audience is fantastic.

“Then two unprecedented, huge events I’m really looking forward to in The Bend and Macau. Reflecting back to 2023 to the Sydney Motorsport Park and Bathurst TCR World Tour events, they were two of the fondest memories I have in motorsport. Those two events were so cool and to take up against drivers I’ve watched on TV in previous TCR World Tour or the World Touring Car Championship races for years was amazing.

“I’m excited for The Bend as the 500 weekend will be incredible and Macau will be one of those bucket list tracks I’ve always wanted to race at. The fact TCR Australia has given me an opportunity to do that is really exciting.

“At the end of 2019 we’d sold our Formula Ford, but didn’t know what to do next. We couldn’t afford to lease or run with a team in anything and that’s why we ran Formula Ford by ourselves, so it was a case of potentially stopping racing at that point.

“TCR at the time was getting bigger, plus the cars were reasonably priced to get into and racing against some of the best drivers in the country made it a great reason to have a crack, which is what we did.

“It was a challenge for a small family team at first, but obviously we built up to a point where we won races, took pole positions and challenged for the title. TCR built me from a guy that may have stopped racing in 2019 to fast forward five years and I’m running a team preparing cars for clients alongside my own program. Plus, I’ve got some incredible sponsors involved and none of this would have been possible without TCR.

“I owe TCR Australia a lot and I want to see it back to where it was when I first started. The cars are fun to drive and they race better than anything else out there.

“The plan is to run two cars this year, like we did in 2024 with Glenn Nirwan. Glenn’s moved to some other programs and we still have his Audi RS3 LMS TCR sitting here ready to go. It won two Kumho FIA TCR World Tour races with Will Brown at the wheel in Sydney and it’s a super capable car in the latest specification featuring all the upgrades.

“We’d love to put someone in the second Audi for the full-season and we’re definitely on the hunt to put someone in the car.

“There’s not many other categories that come to Australia where you can put yourself up against professional, factory drivers from Europe. For the drivers wanting to really test themselves against the world’s best and help us Aussies prove we’re as good as anybody, we’ve got a brilliant car ready to go for someone willing to take up the opportunity.”