However, there are a few brave families taking on the TCR Australia Series powerhouses like Garry Rogers Motorsport and Melbourne Performance Centre.<\/p>\n
In the TCR Australia Series, Zac Soutar is the leading privateer.<\/p>\n
While many teams bring swathes of experienced engineers and mechanics, it's very much a family and friends vibe for Soutar.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
His dad is the team boss while his best friend from high school has taken up the role of engineer, despite not having any engineering experience prior.<\/p>\n
Soutar's cousin is a mechanic while his brother and other family friends help with odd jobs here and there.<\/p>\n
Despite the small team of weekend warriors, Soutar has had success.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He won at the season-opening event at Symmons Plains and claimed podiums at Queensland Raceway and Sandown Raceway.<\/p>\n
READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Broken-hearted' teen star's Broncos accusation<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Hawks try to buy way out of racism claims<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Cricket legend's brutal admission after World Cup debacle<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Record ten red cards dished out in football chaos<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n "It's awesome," Soutar told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n "It's great to reward everyone for their hard work. I've got a team full of volunteers and family and mates. Everybody volunteers their time to come racing.\u00a0<\/p>\n "To have got a few podiums for them, it makes me really happy.\u00a0<\/p>\n "I thought I was crazy at the start when we did the privateer thing, I thought maybe we could never get there. It's good to prove to ourselves that we can do it.<\/p>\n "I'm looking forward to next year to see what we can do over a full season now that I think we've got our feet on the ground and we're off and running."<\/p>\n As one of just two drivers to compete full-time in a Honda Civic Type R, the Melburnian is among the contenders for this year's title.<\/p>\n While the 25-year-old admits he is an outside chance without something dramatically going amiss for series leader Tony D'Alberto, he's still happy with his season to date.<\/p>\n "If you had told me we'd have a race win and three more podiums at the start of the year, I probably wouldn't have believed you," he added.<\/p>\n "To be honest, I don't think we are realistically in with a shot at the championship. Mathematically, we are, but I think Tony would have to have a monumentally bad one to lose it from this point.\u00a0<\/p>\n https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportAU\/status\/1589461458361925634<\/a><\/p>\n "For me, my goal is to try and finish in the top five of the championship. In saying that, a good way to make that happen is just to focus on purely the result in the moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n "I'll be going to Bathurst with no pressure on myself for the championship and just do a good job to get a good result for myself and my team."<\/p>\n Even though this year's title chase isn't over, Soutar is already looking towards the 2023 season.<\/p>\n Their Honda Civic Type R is currently on the market and plans are in the works to purchase a brand-new car next year.<\/p>\n It's all part of a bid to become the first privateers to win the series.<\/p>\n "Next year will definitely be angled on winning the championship," said Soutar.<\/p>\n "To be honest, I think we've done okay this year. We haven't had any test days at all. It's always pretty hectic in the lead-up to a race meeting to get there.\u00a0<\/p>\n "I think with a little bit more time going into next season, we're going to do a lot more test days and get on top of those little one-percenters that maybe hold us back."<\/p>\n The TCR Australia Series comes to a close at the Bathurst International as part of the SpeedSeries<\/a> season finale on November 11-13.<\/p>\n \ufeffFor a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Family-run racing teams were once commonplace in the upper echelon of Australian touring car competitions. They didn't bring wads of cash from lucrative sponsorships \u2013 […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249386"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=249386"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249388,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249386\/revisions\/249388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=249386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=249386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=249386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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