{"id":307303,"date":"2023-06-13T01:05:56","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T01:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=307303"},"modified":"2023-06-13T03:00:43","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T03:00:43","slug":"gutted-newcomer-triumphs-against-all-odds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=307303","title":{"rendered":"'Gutted' newcomer triumphs against all odds"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the days leading up to the third TCR Australia Series<\/a> round, Tom Oliphant was down in the dumps and resigned to the fact that his title bid was all but over.<\/p>\n

During a test run, his brand-new Lynk & Co 03 suffered an engine failure in the days leading up to the event<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With no spare parts available for Ashley Seward Motorsport to remedy the issue, Oliphant was forced to revert back to the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce he started the season with.<\/p>\n

Stan Sport is the only place to watch all the 2023 SpeedSeries.<\/strong><\/em> All the action streaming ad free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

It was a big blow for the British Touring Car Championship race winner's campaign, given the older Italian car wasn't as quick.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/p>\n

Even after finishing 10th in the weekend's opening race at Winton, Oliphant wasn't confident he'd have enough to lead from pole position for the top 10 reverse grid race that followed.<\/p>\n

Despite stiff opposition, the Englishman held on to beat third-generation racer Clay Richards.<\/p>\n

"Not in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be standing on the top step, let alone getting a trophy," said Oliphant.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Blues name Moses, shock debutant in Origin team<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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"The feeling going in wasn't so positive, we were all gutted we couldn't run the Lynk & Co and especially after such a positive test.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Practice on Friday was difficult, the car didn't feel particularly good, but it's a testament to the attitude of the team who continued to make big changes and improved it with each session.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/p>\n

"Once we got that reverse grid pole for race two, I knew we'd have a good chance. The Alfa isn't a bad car when you get out in the clean air and can dictate the pace.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"We struggled in the traffic during the other two races, going off-line and coming under pressure the car didn't have the mobility to really fight.<\/p>\n

"Race two was a huge highlight, I'm really pleased to have gotten my first win in TCR Australia, it's great to go home with a trophy and put a smile on everyone's faces."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/SpeedSeriesAU\/status\/1667737702819844097<\/a><\/p>\n

The win tempered what was an otherwise difficult weekend for Oliphant.<\/p>\n

He ended the weekend with an eighth place finish, moving him from 10th in the standings to ninth after three rounds.<\/p>\n

It's expected Oliphant will be back in his Lynk & Co 03 for the fourth round of the series.\ufeff<\/p>\n

HMO Customer Racing's Bailey Sweeny still leads the standings on 387 points ahead of teammate Josh Buchan on 351.<\/p>\n

Garry Rogers Motorsport's Jordan Cox dropped to third in the standings with 326 points while teammate Aaron Cameron also fell a place to fourth on 307.<\/p>\n

Lachlan Mineeff rounds out the top five on 302 points. Last year's champion Tony D'Alberto of Wall Racing sits seventh just behind Ben Bargwanna for Garry Rogers Motorsport.<\/p>\n

The TCR Australia Series takes an extended break before returning on August 11-13 at Queensland Raceway.<\/p>\n

For 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>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the days leading up to the third TCR Australia Series round, Tom Oliphant was down in the dumps and resigned to the fact that […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":307305,"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\/307303"}],"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=307303"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":307308,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307303\/revisions\/307308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/307305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=307303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=307303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=307303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}