TCR championships kicked-off in Australia and Japan

The TCR touring car racing family continues its growth with two major TCR championship having their inaugural events the previous weekend. TCR Australia kicked-off with three races at Sydney Motorsport Park while TCR Japan had its season-opening round at Autopolis Circuit.

The former Supercars driver Jason Bright was the winner of the inaugural race of TCR Australia in Taskforce Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR. The experienced 46-year-old driver took the victory ahead of Tony D’Alberto (Honda Civic Type R) and Will Brown (Hyundai i30 N TCR).

In the next two races, Will Brown scored two wins and took the lead in the championship. Dylan O’Keeffe (Alfa Romeo Giulietta) was a runner-up in both races while the third place went to Tony D’Alberto and Michael Almond (Hyundai). Seventeen drivers participated in the event.

The inaugural season of TCR Australia will have seven rounds. The next on a calendar is the event at Phillip Island on June 6-9.

2019 TCR Australia Series Round 1, Sydney Motorsport Park

Jason Bright was the winner of the inaugural TCR Australia race

In Japan, the TCR championship kicked-off at Autopolis with two races. On Saturday, the winner was Matthew Howson (KCMG Honda Civic), ahead of Takuro Shinohara (Hitotsuyama Racing Audi RS3 LMS) and Yu Kanamaru (Team Goh Honda Civic). On Sunday, Yu Kanamaru climbed to the top podium spot, defeating Howson. Takeshi Matsumoto (Wakayama Volkswagen Golf) completed the podium.

Eleven drivers participated in the event. TCR Japan features five rounds, the next is scheduled for June 22-23 at Sportsland Sugo.