Dylan O’Keeffe has staged an impressive recovery after a troublesome start to Round 5 of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series at Queensland Raceway.
O’Keeffe qualified fifth – one of his best qualifying performances of the season – and was confident of a good showing in the first race.
“Our race pace has been stronger than our qualifying speed all year, so I really thought we could challenge at the front of the field in Race 1,” O’Keeffe said.
Unfortunately, his hopes of a good result were dashed on the start line; he overshot his grid box, and in trying to reverse back into the correct position, his Autoglym Lynk & Co became jammed in gear; he was towed back to the pits and his day was done.
Starting from the rear of the field in Race 2, O’Keeffe worked his way up to seventh but saved his best performance for Race 3, where he charged to sixth after again starting near the tail end of the field.
“After the frustration of Race 1, it was good to make up some spots in Race 2, but the Ashley Seward Motorsport team absolutely nailed the setup in Race 3 – the car was a jet, and I was able to pass cars quite easily,” O’Keeffe said.
“Overall, it was a weekend of what might have been – if we hadn’t had the Race 1 DNF, we definitely had the pace to be fighting right at the front, especially in the last race. From a learning perspective, it was a good weekend because we made some very positive progress with the car.”
The TCR Series now has a long break before the next round at Sydney Motorsport Park, 18-20 October.
TCR Round Results Summary
Qualifying: 5th
Race 1: DNF
Race 2: 7th
Race 3: 6th
Overall: 12th
TCR Australia – Top 10 Points
- Zac Soutar – 531
- Josh Buchan – 504
- Jordan Cox – 479
- Brad Harris – 465
- Ben Bargwanna – 464
- Ryan Casha – 461
- Tony D’Alberto – 447
- Aaron Cameron – 405
- Dylan O’Keeffe – 403
- Clay Richards – 347
