An elated Dylan O’Keeffe has gallantly resisted pressure from his rivals to complete the 2024 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia season finale at Mount Panorama with the overall round win.
O’Keeffe qualified the Autoglym/Ashley Seward Motorsport Lynk & Co fifth, but advanced to second with some aggressive passing manoeuvres on the opening lap of Race 1.
“In qualifying, the times were super-close and I was only a couple of tenths away from the front row, but the car’s pace on cold tyres was excellent,” O’Keeffe said.
“I made up a couple of places in the first corner, and then gained another spot on Con-rod Straight. I spent the rest of the race chasing down the leader, but ultimately ran out of tyres.”
Starting ninth in the reverse-grid second race, O’Keeffe battled a minor turbo boost issue but even so, he made up five positions – the most of any driver in the field – coming home in fourth.
The combined points for the weekend saw O’Keeffe lining up second on the grid for the third race, and after a robust battle at the top of Mountain Straight, he emerged in the lead.
“There was a bit of contact heading into Griffin’s Bend but fortunately I came through unscathed,” he said.
“I was under extreme pressure from behind, and I had to spend the entire race driving mistake-free qualifying laps to ensure I stayed in front. It was one of the best races I’ve driven in TCR – I was on the absolute limit the whole time, but the car was awesome and made it possible for me to do the job.”
O’Keeffe’s podium results in the last two rounds saw him moving up to fourth in the final standings – his best result in the TCR Australia Series. He paid credit to the Ashley Seward Motorsport team for continually improving the car throughout the year.
“To score the round win, even with the disadvantage of our success ballast from the previous round, shows just how good the car was this weekend,” O’Keeffe said.
“Ash and the team have worked tirelessly on improving the car all season, and our results in the last two rounds are a great reward for their efforts.”
TCR Round Results Summary
Qualifying: 5th
Race 1: 2nd
Race 2: 4th
Race 3: 1st
Overall: 1st
TCR Australia – Final Points
- Josh Buchan – 747
- Zac Soutar – 728
- Brad Harris – 677
- Dylan O’Keeffe – 654
- Jordan Cox – 651
- Ryan Casha – 649
- Ben Bargwanna – 623
- Tom Oliphant – 536
- Tony D’Alberto – 490
- Aaron Cameron – 475
