Simmons, Mawer confirmed for Subaru TCR

Subaru will return to the TCR Australia grid this weekend at The Bend Motorsport Park with Mildun Motorsports confirming it has entered two WRX TCRs.

Former Blancpain GT Endurance Series racer Mat Simmons and the experienced Barton Mawer will pilot the entries which recently moved from Kelly Racing.

Plagued by unreliability, the new custodians have carried out two test days after working to resolve the issues which blighted the machines.

The Bend event will mark both drivers’ first appearance in TCR competition, and in Simmons’ case his first race on home soil.

Having won Nissan’s International GT Academy, the former postman campaigned a Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 in the Blancpain GT World Challenge, and had two outings in the Australian GT Championship (at Hampton Downs and Highlands) in 2016.

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“It’s exciting to get my first chance to race in the TCR Australia Series, and a great chance to get back into the driver’s seat,” said Simmons, who has not raced since 2017.

“TCR has proved to be really exciting, diverse class of racing. There are some extremely good drivers and teams in the field, and it is already regarded as one of the fiercest competitions n Australia.

“I definitely need to pay a big thank you to Milldun Motorsport for the opportunity in the Subaru.

“The team was great at the test, we all learnt a lot and I feel that they have really turned a corner in these cars.”

Mawer will climb into the car having competed in the inaugural S5000 event at Sandown in September, and taking top honours at the World Time Attack at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Together with Simmons, they bring the field to a total of 20 cars for the season finale.

“Racing in TCR is certainly going to be different to what I’m used to, but I really can’t wait,” said Barton Mawer.

“We had a shakedown at Winton, which was good to get a feel for the car, which I have to say is a lot different to the Porsche RP 968 that I last drove at the World Time Attack.

“I actually have an affinity with the Subaru brand. I won the inaugural 10 hour event at Sydney Motorsport Park some years ago, so I’ve always been fond of Subaru and the WRXs.

“Milldun Motorsport has worked hard on the two TCR Subarus, so the plan is to go to The Bend, get a reliable, strong result and show that the cars deserve to be in the series.”

The final round of the 2019 TCR Australia Series kicks off with two practice sessions on Friday.