Photo: GRM

First images of the new generation Peugeot 308 TCR on track

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Garry Rogers Motorsport has released the first images of the new generation Peugeot 308 P51 TCR from its maiden test on track at Sandown in Australia.

The team turned the first laps with the car during a shakedown session at Sandown Raceway earlier this week following 18 months of development.

TCR Australia driver Ben Bargwanna was behind the wheel of the car during the shakedown.

“Coming into the day we obviously knew that we had a lot to learn. So far from the small sample of the new P51 we’ve quickly learnt that it is very different to the old generation 308, but we ran through plenty of programs and collected plenty of data to do some homework on it,” said Bargwanna.

“GRM have put in countless hours of work on this project and to even get it to the track was special, I think everyone felt a massive sense of pride as the car rolled out of pitlane for the first time that’s for sure. By no means are we there yet, but I most definitely had a huge smile on my face all day.”

The team is currently building four Peugeots which will be made available for customers around the world.

Next up is further testing at Winton Motor Raceway, engine dyno testing in Italy and a homologation process where WSC representatives will visit GRM’s workshop in Australia.

“To see not just a new car but one in particular that we have designed and developed in house roll out was an extremely proud moment for all of the crew here at GRM. The day went well and we achieved what we wanted to, just making sure it went through all the process how we expected it would,” said Barry Rogers, director of Garry Rogers Motorsport.

“There is a lot of new equipment going into this car and the focus for us whenever we build new cars is utilising not just Australian but Victorian manufacturing, which is no different to when we built the S5000’s.

“The transmission was a big thing with this car, the global TCR cars all utilise transmissions from two or three main suppliers. We trusted our local company in Holinger Engineering and the feedback from the day was really positive. We test again at Winton in ten days, so look forward to that.”