Dylan O’Keeffe will join the ranks of the TCR Australia grid in 2019, racing an Alfa Romeo Giulietta for Ashley Seward Motorsport in one of the Garry Rogers Motorsport-owned cars.
O’Keeffe, 21, has previously raced in Porsche racing at both state and national levels, finishing sixth overall in the 2018 Carrera Cup.
This year he has also committed to competing in the Dunlop Super2 Series with GRM, dovetailing his commitments with a season of racing in TCR Australia.
The car will be run by Ashley Seward Motorsport in partnership with GRM, with the two organisations supporting each other with technical information, data and logistics.
The team is owned by Ashley Seward who has run successful programmes in open-wheelers, sports and GT cars in both Australian and international events.
“Ash has played a major part in my racing life since I started in Porsches five years ago, and now I’m obviously aligned with GRM, working for them full-time and racing with them in Super2,” said O’Keeffe.
“It’s great to see both teams working together and helping each other, and I’m very happy to be a piece of the puzzle.
“I’ve watched some of the TCR races overseas, and they’re always great to watch – the cars are evenly-matched, and they put on close racing with plenty of passing.
“One of the best things about the category is the cars are the same all around the world, so once you’ve learned the right driving technique, you can go and race in other TCR events and know what to expect.”
“I’m expecting the driving style to be completely different to anything I’ve raced before.
“Fortunately, we have the pre-season test tomorrow at Winton, which will give me a chance to learn and understand the car.”
Ashley Seward was resolute that he needed to be involved in TCR Australia ever since he first heard about the new series.
“I’ve watched TCR cars in overseas races, and when it was announced the series was coming to Australia, I decided it was definitely a category we needed to be involved in,” said Seward.
“When you look at the younger demographics here in Australia, they’re all driving hot hatches – TCR is about taking these sorts of cars from the road to the racetrack and enabling them to compete on a level playing field. There’s no doubt it’s going to appeal to competitors and spectators.
“In terms of our own resources, we have everything we need to run a competitive TCR operation, and it’s a category that fits well with our existing programs in categories like Carrera Cup and Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge.”
“I’ve known Garry and Barry Rogers since I was very young, and our workshop is only 500 metres away from theirs – it made total sense for us to work together on this program.
“They are running three other TCR cars, and we will both benefit from each other’s resources and technical knowledge. There will be TCR rounds where we will be able to help them with transport and logistics, and they will be able to assist us with technical support at the track.”