Ashley Seward Motorsport will expand to a two-car Alfa Romeo Giulietta assault for the final round of the TCR Australia Series at The Bend Motorsport Park this weekend.
The new Alfa will be driven by Australian international racer James Allen; originally from Perth, Allen has competed in Europe for the last seven years in a variety of categories, including Formula BMW, Formula Renault and the European Le Mans Series.
Allen tested at Winton yesterday alongside ASM’s other TCR driver Dylan O’Keeffe, who sits second in the standings. Allen’s TCR debut will also mark his first race meeting in a touring car.
“This is the first front wheel drive car I’ve raced, and probably the heaviest race car I’ve ever driven too, so it will be a whole new game,” Allen said.
“I’m definitely looking forward to it. It’s always nice to try something different, but the test at Winton helped me get up to speed.
“At the moment, it’s just a one-off race for me. If I enjoy it, I’ll look into doing it next year if it doesn’t clash with any of my racing in Europe, and it will be nice to race back at home for once!
“I’ve been watching the TCR Australia races online. It looks close and it looks like it will be good fun. I’m just excited to get amongst it.”
Team owner Ashley Seward said yesterday’s test was productive for both drivers.
“We’ve done some preparations, did the test yesterday and we’re now ready for The Bend,” Seward said.
“We’ve spoken to a number of drivers about next year, including James, but our focus is just to get through The Bend, do our best to secure second place in the series for Dylan and then we’ll turn our attention to 2020.”
As well as their TCR program, ASM will also run three cars in Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge for Christian Pancione, Ross McGregor and Andrew Goldie (full GT3 Cup preview to be released shortly).
TCR Australia Round 7 Schedule
Friday, 15 November
1:15pm – Practice 1 (30 min)
4:05pm – Practice 2 (30 min)
Saturday, 16 November
9:30am – Qualifying (30 min)
12:45pm – Race 1 (30 min)
Sunday, 17 November
11:40am – Race 2 (30 min)
12:45pm – Race 3 (30 min)
