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10 January 2019 | News

Audi wins 2018 TCR Model of the Year

The Audi RS 3 LMS TCR race car has been awarded the prestigious TCR Model of 2018.

The title, awarded by WSC, allocates points to the different model cars in all the TCR-sanctioned races of the season. Points are adjusted by coefficients that take into account the level of the series, the number of cars at the start and the number of brands represented.

The Audi RS 3 LMS scored 7213.50 points, beating the Honda Civic Type R.

Third place was taken out by 2017 Model of the Year vehicle, the CUPRA/SEAT León.

The Audi and Honda finishing on top of the rankings is good news for TCR Australia, with one of each model already on Australian shores, with more examples of the car to be announced in the near future.

During the 2018 season the Audi RS 3 LMS cars totalled 684 race-starts over 17 TCR series, claiming 43 wins.

Audi was the first to bring a TCR car to Australia. The car is now owned by Melbourne Performance Centre and will compete in the inaugural Australian series this year.

TCR Australia is set to kick off on May 17-19 at Sydney Motorsport Park, headlining the Shannons Nationals.

QUOTES:

Chris Reinke,
Head of Audi Sport customer racing

“It’s a great honour for Audi Sport that the RS 3 LMS has won this prestigious worldwide classification out of the 12 manufacturers of TCR cars,” said Chris Reinke.

“What is of particular significance is that this award respects not only the sporting, but also the commercial success. Beside the on-track success, Audi Sport sticks to the true spirit of customer racing and has already built more than 160 TCR cars being fielded by customers around the world. It’s a testament to the success of WSC’s worldwide TCR category, whose number of series is still growing.” 

Troy Russell,
Managing Director, Melbourne Performance Cars

“Having been associated with Audi for many years through MPC’s GT3 customer racing program, we know how good the Audi product is, so it’s no surprise that it has taken this great award,” said Troy Russell.

“As soon as we found out that TCR was coming to Australia, we wanted as much information as possible because we were really keen on the class. It’s perfect for Australia and we really think it’s going to be a strong category.

“We’ve had some really good interest and we are looking forward to confirming a number of cars for the 2019 series, both with the Audi RS 3 LMS and the Volkswagen Golf GTI.”

2018 TCR Model of the Year – final standings (top-six)
1. Audi RS 3 LMS              7213.50 pts
2. Honda Civic Type R       7055.75
3. Cupra/SEAT León          6855.25
4. Volkswagen Golf GTI     6595.25
5. Hyundai i30 N                5813.50
6. Peugeot 308                  3100.50