Zac Soutar takes top honours in Bathurst opener

Zac Soutar has closed the gap on Josh Buchan at the top of the TCR Australia championship standings after scoring victory in the opening race of the Bathurst season finale.

Defending champion Buchan held a 36 point lead coming into the weekend as he bids to become the first driver to win back-to-back titles, but Soutar grabbed the early advantage in qualifying at Mount Panorama as he put his Audi at the head of the field – choosing the ideal time to score his first career pole.

That gave Soutar an additional points boost before the opening race had even got underway and with Buchan lining up in third place, he headed to the start looking to try and bring the gap down still further ahead of Sunday’s final two races.

Will Harris had lined up alongside Soutar on the grid but when the lights went out, he was unable to launch a challenge on the Audi man as the title hopeful led the field into turn one, with Harris losing out to Buchan before slipping down the order when he was run wide.

Buchan briefly had a look at trying to get ahead of Soutar for the race lead but couldn’t make a move stick at Forest Elbow, and instead saw the Lynk & Co of Dylan O’Keeffe take advantage to nip ahead into second spot before the end of the opening lap.

From that point on, the positions at the front of the pack would remain static as Soutar led every lap en-route to a vital race win, with O’Keeffe able to keep Buchan at bay to score second spot.

With Buchan having to settle for third, the gap at the top has been reduced further to 28 points going into Sunday.

Brad Harris took the flag in fourth spot in the lead Honda but a penalty for being out of position on the grid at the start saw him demoted down to fifth spot and moved the Hyundai of Tom Oliphant up a spot.

The new Peugeot P51 was unable to replicate the strong pace shown in Sydney as all four cars failed to make it past the first stage of qualifying, and only one broke into the top six in the race.

Jordan Cox would lead the GRM entries in sixth spot ahead of team-mates Ryan Casha and Ben Bargwanna, with a disappointed Will Harris and series debutant Blake Knowles rounding out the ten finishers.

Aaron Cameron was the only retirement having failed to even make the start due to a power steering issue on his Peugeot on the out lap.

Race 2 starts at 10:05 local time/00:05 CET on Sunday.