Morcom victorious in unpredictable TCR finale

Nathan Morcom became the ninth different race winner of the 2019 TCR Australia Series following an unpredictable season finale.

Rising through the field as those around him struck trouble, Morcom (Hyundai i30N) charged from sixth on the grid to claim the top step of the podium.

A sluggish start saw Aaron Cameron (Volkswagen Golf GTI) mugged at the start, falling to third by Turn 1 as Jordan Cox (Alfa Romeo Guilietta) claimed the lead from James Moffat (Renault Megane RS).

James Allen (Alfa Romeo Guilietta) ran wide as the field rounded the right hand sequence midway around the lap of the circuit, bouncing through the grass before rejoining.

A torrid opening lap saw Tony D’Alberto (Honda Civic Type R) drop to 17th by the end of the opening lap, while Peugeot’s Aurelien Comte was going the other way as he climbed to eighth.

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Cameron slipped further back to sit seventh behind Cox, Moffat, Morcom, Chris Pither (Renault Megane RS), and Will Brown (Hyundai i30N).

Morcom had put a move on Brown at the Hairpin, with Pither following the Hyundai driver through to push the champion-elect two places in a single corner.

On Lap 3 Russell Ingall (Audi RS 3 LMS) found himself pointing the wrong way after spinning at Turn 13, the left rear suspension appearing to fail.

Next time through Pither collected the errant spring left by Ingall’s car, though it did nothing to hamper his immediate progress.

Soon after Moffat pulled off the road while running second, coming to a stop midway around the lap as he entered Elfin Straight.

With Moffat out, Morcom moved to second and Pither third, Brown having dropped 2.5 seconds further back in fourth and under the attentions of Cameron.

Cox’s time out front came to an end when he left the road at ‘The Threesome’ complex of right handers midway around the lap, ending up well off the road with what appeared to be a failure.

It promoted Morcom to the lead, with Pither glued to his rear bumper, with Brown third and Cameron fourth.

Comte’s early progress stalled, as it had done in the day’s earlier race, the Frenchman holding down 10th ahead of Alexandra Whitley (Volkswagen Golf GTI).

Running fourth, a turbo issue saw Cameron struggle for pace, quickly dropping back from Brown.

With two laps to run he fell victim to D’Alberto, a change of position which would ultimately see second in the championship – and $50,000 – change hands.

Morcom held on to take his first race win in the series, holding off Pither by seven tenths.

Brown was third from Heimgartner with D’Alberto fifth to confirm himself second in the championship.

In the run to the line, Cameron’s ailing Volkswagen was mugged by both Comte and Tim Brook (Cupra Leon) to finish 10th, dropping to third in the championship.

Results: Race 3

Pos	Num	Team/Sponsor	Driver	Car	Laps	Race time
1	11	HMO Customer Racing	Nathan Morcom	Hyundai I30N	14	27:34.1288
2	33	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Chris Pither	Renault Megane RS	14	27:34.8657
3	30	HMO Customer Racing	Will Brown	Hyundai I30N	14	27:38.3831
4	777	Kelly Racing	Andre Heimgartner	Holden Astra	14	27:44.7279
5	50	Wall Racing	Tony D’Alberto	Honda Civic Type R	14	27:52.5610
6	24	Wall Racing	John Martin	Honda Civic Type R	14	27:54.3850
7	8	Taskforce / Melb.Perf.Centre	Jason Bright	Volkswagen Golf GTI	14	27:56.7754
8	308	DG Sport	Aurelien Comte	Peugeot 308	14	28:06.4363
9	64	Garage 1	Tim Brook	Cupra SEAT Leon 300	14	28:07.1011
10	2	Melbourne Performance Centre	Aaron Cameron	Volkswagen Golf GTI	14	28:07.1934
11	35	Melbourne Performance Centre	Alexandra Whitley	Volkswagen Golf GTI	14	28:08.6787
12	3	Melbourne Performance Centre	Iain McDougall	Audi RS 3	14	28:09.5011
13	19	Milldun Motorsport	Matthew Simmons	Subaru WRX STi	14	28:10.9701
14	10	Ashley Seward Motorsport	James Allen	Alfa Romeo Giulietta	14	29:24.5609
15	27	Milldun Motorsport	Barton Mawer	Subaru WRX STi	14	29:30.9221
DNF	7	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Jordan Cox	Alfa Romeo Giulietta	7	13:51.6448
DNF	34	Garry Rogers Motorsport	James Moffat	Renault Megane RS	4	7:58.7952
DNF	100	Melbourne Performance Centre	Russell Ingall	Audi RS 3	3	6:56.6994

Series points

Pos	Driver	Pts
1	Will Brown	733
2	Tony D’Alberto	557
3	Aaron Cameron	546
4	Nathan Morcom	500
5	Dylan O’Keeffe	483
6	James Moffat	440
7	Jason Bright	412
8	John Martin	390
9	Russell Ingall	326
10	Garth Tander	286
11	Jordan Cox	281
12	Chris Pither	270
13	Andre Heimgartner	262
14	Leanne Tander	220
15	Alexandra Whitley	215
16	Alex Rullo	209
17	Nestor Girolami	132
18	Hamish Ribarits	118
19	Molly Taylor	116
20	Jimmy Vernon	77
21	Bryce Fullwood	76
22	Michael Almond	74
23	Tim Brook	73
24	Liam McAdam	65
25	Chelsea Angelo	56
26	Jordan Michels	46
27	Jean Karl Vernay	42
28	Rik Breukers	40
29	Mat Simmons	33
30	Aurelien Comte	31
31	James Allen	24
32	Barton Mawer	17
33	Aaron Seton	0