While Bailey Sweeny cleared out, there was drama aplenty for the final place on the podium in the TCR Australia Series weekend finale.
After a race-long battle, Jordan Cox found himself under assault on the final circuit of the 21-lap race at Sandown.
Under siege from Michael Clemente, Cox copped a whack into turn four. The pair went side-by-side down the back straight.
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In a remarkable turn of events, Tony D’Alberto passed Cox and then swept around the outside of Clemente at turn six to steal third place.
The battle capped off a thrilling race, wihch was won by Bailey Sweeny.
“It was pretty spicy at the end, lots of little bumps and rubs,” said D’Alberto.
“Really happy to grab a P3 there. We had a shocker in race two and had to recover.
“The car was quick on its own, just in traffic it struggled a bit.
“I got a little bit hot under the collar then. We’re all racing as hard as we can, we didn’t want to give an inch. I don’t like paying for the repairs but I’m happy to do that for a result.”
From pole position, the Hyundai driver ceded the lead to Aaron Cameron who made a blistering start from second.
Cameron held the lead initially but it wasn’t long before Sweeny mounted an attack and took the lead on lap eight.
Behind them, Zac Souter fought off fellow Audi pilot Lachlan Mineeff lap after lap.
Their battle came to a head with just a few laps to go when Soutar made a mistake at turn nine. That allowed Mineeff to get alongside and attack into the final chicane.
Mineeff looked to have made the pass for the final place on the podium only to make contact and launch into the air.
Soutar was speared off the road with a left front puncture while Mineeff raced on unabated.
Then, with just two laps to go, Mineeff’s right front tyre blew and gifted Cox third place before his fiery finish to the race.
All told, Sweeny couldn’t be touched and came home three seconds clear of Cameron. D’Alberto was a distant third ahead of Clemente and Cox.
Ben Bargwanna was sixth, Josh Buchan seventh, Tom Oliphant eighth, Cody Garland ninth, and Clay Richards the last of the top 10 runners.
With victory, Sweeny extended his lead out over teammate Buchan to 30 points heading into the penultimate round of the series at Sydney Motorsport Park on November 3-4.
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Hasibur Rahaman is a passionate sports journalist. He covers everything from cricket to field hockey, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis of sporting events, both within India and on the international stage.
