Will Brown has beaten some of the best touring car drivers in the world, winning race two of the TCR World Tour at Sydney Motorsport Park from 10th on the grid.
After winning race one in treacherous conditions, the reverse top 10 grid put the Melbourne Performance Centre driver in the middle of the pack.
That proved no obstacle for the 2019 TCR Australia Series champion, who stormed through the field to win by more than three seconds.
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"It was pretty cool," said Brown.
"To start off (position) 10 there, I didn't think we'd get the win, that's for sure.
"There was some awesome racing out there. God, these guys race hard!
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"I had to give it back a few times, but the Audi guys were great. I knew they were in the championship hunt so I didn't want to do anything silly with those guys.
"I was lucky enough to get through and then I had to catch Aaron Cameron.
"An awesome race, there was so much going on out there. I saw a lot of cars nearly spin. A lot of contact, so it was pretty cool. I loved the racing."
As the lights went out, it was Sweden's Thed Bjork from pole position who got the jump on fellow front-row starter Nestor Girolami of Argentina.
However, in the second phase, it was third place starter and leading TCR Australia Series driver Aaron Cameron who swept around the outside and mounted a challenge for the lead.
Into turn two, Bjork braked too deep and went wide. That gifted Cameron the lead who fought to keep Girolami at bay.
Behind them. Spain's Mikel Azcona bowled a wide at turn four and suffered a right front puncture on his Hyundai i30 N.
https://twitter.com/SpeedSeriesAU/status/1720671864954253679
He was lucky not to crash after steamrolling across the track into the path of the pack.
At the end of lap one, it was Cameron who led Girolami, Hungary's Norbert Michelisz, Bjork, and Rob Huff of the United Kingdom.
The drama continued on lap three when Jordan Cox centre-punched the back of Frenchman Yann Ehrlacher's Lynk & Co 03 in an awkward turn two clash under brakes.
A lap later and the safety car was drawn onto the track when second-placed Girolami suddenly ground to a halt in his Honda Civic Type R at turn six.
After a brief break, the race resumed with Cameron at the head of the field. However, an investigation found he had jumped the restart, resulting in a five-second penalty (video below).
https://twitter.com/SpeedSeriesAU/status/1720673519087014285
Although Cameron led, it was Michelisz who effectively had control of the race. Bjork was third, Huff fourth, and Will Brown the hard-charger to fifth from 10th.
There were nervous moments shortly after the restart when HMO Customer Racing teammates Josh Buchan and Bailey Sweeny made wheel-to-wheel contact at turn seven.
Sweeny got hung out to dry and bounced over the dirt on corner exit, fortunate to escape without damage.
https://twitter.com/SpeedSeriesAU/status/1720676946571604170
Brown continued his march forward and eventually rose to second. He needn't worry about coming within five seconds of Cameron. By lap 13, the pass was done after the Peugeot 308 pilot went wide at the hairpin.
Cameron crossed the finish line in second but fell to eighth after his five-second penalty was applied.
Huff rose to second and Comtoyou Racing teammate Vervisch to third in an all-Audi podium.
https://twitter.com/SpeedSeriesAU/status/1720676597748093002
Speaking post-race, Cameron was left dejected by the decision.
"It wasn't much. I thought I stopped (rolling) before the lights went out but obviously not," Cameron told Stan Sport's Chris Stubbs.
"The powers that be decided I was moving. Yeah, it sucks. Points-wise for us, every point counts at the moment.
"To have a World Tour podium would have been cool. We'll tune her up, have another go, and see what happens in the last one."
Race three of the combined TCR World Tour and TCR Australia Series at Sydney Motorsport Park takes place under lights at 7.55pm.
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