Clay Richards will take part in his third TCR Australia event this weekend, racing yet another different car as he joins Carl Cox Motorsport to get behind the wheel of a CUPRA Leon Competición TCR.
Richards made his debut last year in the Winton round, where he scored a sensational podium finish in only his second-ever TCR race in a first-generation Audi RS3 LMS TCR.
He returned for the Sandown Raceway round later in the year in a Peugeot 308 TCR, but was unable to emulate the feat, finishing tenth in race three.
He will return to the field for the opening round of the 2024 season at Sandown this weekend, where the car will be run by Melbourne Performance Centre, linking Richards back up with the team where he made his first outing.
“To race for someone as well-known as Carl Cox, and his team, is something I’m really looking forward to and will grab with both hands,” said Richards.
“I drove the Peugeot at Sandown last year, so I’ve got some experience on what TCR is like around there. I’ve done a bit in the Audi as well and the CUPRA is pretty similar to the Audi, it’s got the same running gear, so that’s another bonus.
“I haven’t done a test day in the CUPRA, but hopefully it will be familiar, and I can get up to speed quite quickly.
“I don’t have any expectations at the moment. I’m just going in aiming to finish every race, and every session, learn as much as we can and do the best we can.
“Just a big thanks to Carl Cox Motorsport, CASE and all our sponsors for the opportunity.”
The car was previously raced by Michael Clemente, who revealed a few days ago that he “won’t be on the grid in TCR Australia for the first round and foreseeable future” due to being unable to secure the necessary budget.