BRC Racing’s Norbert Michelisz took victory in the reverse-grid second TCR World Tour / TCR Australia race at Bathurst, after fighting back past early leader Aaron Cameron early on.
Michelisz had started the race from pole position thanks to finishing in tenth in Saturday’s opening race of the weekend, but at the start he was out-dragged by both GRM’s Cameron and Comtoyou Racing’s Frédéric Vervisch into the first corner.
Michelisz immediately reclaimed second from Vervisch’s Audi, but Cameron held the early advantage, as the Hungarian had to settle into second.
On lap four, Michelisz was looking fired up and closer to Cameron than ever, and the Hyundai racer dived up the inside of the Peugeot going into The Chase to take the lead, which he then held until the chequered flag to record his third win of the season and move back into the championship lead.
Cameron dropped to third behind Vervisch a lap after Michelisz took the lead, but the 23-year-old got the position back on the penultimate lap when Vervisch dropped back to help out team-mate Rob Huff’s championship challenge.
Going onto the final lap, Vervisch slowed and attempted to allow Huff to make a move on Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk for the final podium position, but ultimately Huff couldn’t get into the best track position to pounce on Björk.
That meant Björk brought his Lynk & Co home in third, closely followed by Huff, with Vervisch crossing the line in fifth.
However, the Belgian was handed a five-second penalty after the race, dropping him to seventh, and instead promoting Cyan Racing’s Yann Ehrlacher to fifth – the Frenchman having closely followed Huff for much of the race.
Ehrlacher had actually been muscled out by Wall Racing’s Néstor Girolami for position into The Chase on the final lap, but the Honda driver was penalised for the move with the addition of five seconds.
That promoted Cyan Racing’s Santiago Urrutia to sixth, ahead of Vervisch in seventh and Tony D’Alberto in eighth, second in TCR Australia, with Girolami thus classified in ninth.
BRC Racing’s Mikel Azcona came from the back of the pack to complete the top ten.
In the TCR Australia title battle, a significant moment came on the opening lap when erstwhile points leader Bailey Sweeny slowed, his Hyundai having developed a loose intercooler hose reducing his power.
Sweeny twice pitted to have the issue resolved, but did not complete enough distance to be classified and thus non-scored. His title rival Josh Buchan had run in ninth on the opening lap, but was muscled out by Zac Soutar into the final corner, and then dropped as low as 15th a lap later.
Buchan ultimately recovered to finish in 11th, third in TCR Australia, to assume the championship lead ahead of the final race.
Soutar ran in ninth until picking up a front-left puncture on lap seven, possibly from brushing the wall, leaving the Audi driver to finish down in 19th after a pitstop.
Will Brown also retired from the race, having run in a strong eighth in the first half of the race, suffering from yet another driveshaft issue in his Audi.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 105 | WT |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 11 | 25:08.3376 | 2:16.040 | 1 |
| 2 | 18 | AU |  |
Aaron CAMERON | Team Valvoline GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 2.439 | 2:16.653 | 2 |
| 3 | 111 | WT |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 11 | 3.900 | 2:16.562 | 6 |
| 4 | 179 | WT |  |
Rob HUFF | Audi Sport Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 11 | 4.652 | 2:16.593 | 5 |
| 5 | 168 | WT |  |
Yann EHRLACHER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 11 | 7.201 | 2:16.621 | 7 |
| 6 | 112 | WT |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 11 | 10.159 | 2:16.673 | 10 |
| 7 | 122 | WT |  |
Frédéric VERVISCH | Audi Sport Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 11 | 10.408 | 2:15.993 | 4 |
| 8 | 1 | AU | |
Tony D’ALBERTO | Honda Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 11 | 11.635 | 2:16.039 | 8 |
| 9 | 129 | WT |  |
Néstor GIROLAMI | Honda Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 11 | 11.851 | 2:16.452 | 9 |
| 10 | 196 | WT |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 11 | 17.541 | 2:16.844 | 22 |
| 11 | 30 | AU | |
Josh BUCHAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 11 | 17.875 | 2:17.390 | 3 |
| 12 | 71 | AU | |
Ben BARGWANNA | Burson Auto Parts Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 23.184 | 2:17.588 | 23 |
| 13 | 155 | WT |  |
MA Qing Hua | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 11 | 23.456 | 2:17.812 | 16 |
| 14 | 15 | AU | |
Michael CLEMENTE | Carl Cox Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 11 | 23.785 | 2:17.317 | 21 |
| 15 | 14 | AU | |
Lachlan MINEEFF | Purple Sector | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 27.883 | 2:17.814 | 20 |
| 16 | 115 | AU | |
Tom OLIPHANT | Autoglym / Ashley Seward Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 11 | 33.660 | 2:18.897 | 17 |
| 17 | 22 | AU | |
Iain MCDOUGALL | Challenge Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 38.703 | 2:18.912 | 19 |
| 18 | 33 | AU | |
Jordan COX | Schaeffler GRM | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 48.766 | 2:17.309 | 14 |
| 19 | 110 | AU | |
Zac SOUTAR | Team Soutar Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 10 | + 1 LAP | 2:17.167 | 11 |
| R | 130 | AU | |
Bailey SWEENY | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 8 | DNF | 2:26.943 | 12 |
| R | 74 | AU | |
Brad HARRIS | Exclusive Switchboards / Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 7 | DNF | 2:18.737 | 18 |
| R | 9 | AU | |
Will BROWN | MPC Team LIQUI MOLY | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 5 | DNF | 2:16.277 | 13 |
| EX | 4 | AU | |
Teddy CLAIRET | Hangcha Forklifts | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 20.030 | 2:17.651 | 15 |
| NS | 76 | AU | |
Will HARRIS | Exclusive Switchboards / Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | DNS | N/A | – |