Josh Buchan fends off Dylan O’Keefe to win race three in Sydney

Josh Buchan made it two wins out of three in the penultimate round of the TCR Australia series at Sydney Motorsport Park, staving off a late challenge from Dylan O’Keefe to consolidate his points advantage.

From pole, Buchan leapt away as O’Keefe bogged down but had to cling on in the closing stages as the latter produced a superb fightback in his Lynk & Co.

Following the multi-car incident in race two, only 11 cars took to the grid for the final bout of the weekend, with Tony D’Alberto missing after his team was unable to make the necessary reapairs to his Honda Civic Type-R.

Another to be involved in the race two melee was erstwhile points leader Zac Soutar, who did make the start and finished eighth.

Off the line, Buchan made a great launch and easily led the way into the first corner, as O’Keefe dropped down to sixth after a terrible start meant he was swamped as he battled for grip.

O’Keefe wasn’t out of the woods though and he was lucky to avoid damage after tagging the rear of Will Harris at Corporate Hill, forcing the Honda driver out of the race.

The Lynk & Co, however, showed incredible pace in the second half of the race and made it back up to second place with overtakes on Jordan Cox and Brad Harris before setting about chasing down leader Buchan.

Buchan held on, despite seemingly under increasing pressure in the final sector, to win by just under half a second at the end.

Cox had been running strongly, having won race two, but the new Peugeot slowed suddenly and into retirement, elevating Aaron Cameron’s F51 308 to the podium in third.

Behind, Brad Harris was fourth ahead of Tom Oliphant, with Ryan Casha’s Peugeot sixth.

Ben Bargwanna headed Soutar for seventh, while Glenn Nirwan was the last classified runner in ninth.

The final round of the TCR Australia Series will take place at Mount Panorama, Bathurst on the weekend of 8-10 November.