Bathurst winners strike deal with French marque

1 year ago 50

French shaper Peugeot has picked Bathurst 1000-winning squad Garry Rogers Motorsport to plan and manufacture its TCR cars from 2024, it tin beryllium revealed.

Speaking exclusively with Wide World of Sport, squad co-owner Barry Rogers confirmed plans to manufacture the Peugeot 308 TCR car in-house.

The woody volition spot the squad physique and export cars, which volition contention not lone successful Australia but successful North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

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Garry Rogers Motorsport has been portion of the racing scenery Down Under for much than 2 decades, astir famously racing successful Supercars and winning the Great Race astatine Mt Panorama successful 2000.

Now, its resources are mostly dedicated to the SpeedSeries programme with entries successful the TCR Australia Series, National Trans Am Series, and S5000.

It's that absorption connected the TCR Australia Series, which sees them location 5 Peugeot 308 TCR cars, that opened the doorway for the 2 parties to signifier a partnership.

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"Our narration started backmost successful 2020, Peugeot wanted to bring a car crossed to Australia and bring a French operator astatine the time," Rogers explained.

"We ran 1 astatine Tailem Bend for them backmost then. From there, we came to an statement with Peugeot Sport successful France to bring 5 Peugeots to Australia, the existent 308s that we're racing.

"We've had a large narration implicit the past mates of years with Peugeot in-house astatine GRM and person had the quality to nutrient immoderate of the homologated components for those cars, which has surely helped our racing programme with the Peugeots here.

"Through the narration with Peugeot sport, the accidental came archetypal with the hybrid 308s roadworthy car being released successful Australia and TCR going hybrid globally successful 2024, we've got that accidental to integrate that hybrid strategy into the car.

"So we've been doing immoderate R&D improvement astatine enactment and that's developed present into the information that Peugeot has tasked america with homologating a full caller 308 for the 2024 play based connected the roadworthy car that has conscionable been released this year.

"It's a truly breathtaking programme astatine GRM to physique a planetary car. Obviously, we've had immoderate acquisition implicit the years, astir precocious with the Volvo successful Supercars, but gathering a car that's going to beryllium racing astir the satellite successful Europe, South America, Asia, Africa is thing we're truly excited to beryllium doing."

Running a fleet of TCR cars is 1 thing, but manufacturing them is another.

Garry Rogers Motorsport volition beryllium required to manufacture astatine slightest 10 cars, to statesman with.

The squad isn't wholly unfamiliar with gathering cars having designed and built Supercars since the 1990s.

Garry Rogers Motorsport was besides the authoritative Volvo outfit from 2013 to 2016.

In caller years, the squad designed and built the V8-powered S5000 successful part.

"Initially with a programme similar this, you've got to nutrient 10 from the start," said Rogers.

"We've got a accumulation enactment astatine enactment and a just spot of plan enactment to bash now. We'll beryllium truly keen to person these cars released astatine the commencement of the 2024 season.

"The unit from Peugeot isn't for them to needfully beryllium acceptable for the commencement of the season, but internally we'd emotion to purpose for that date, connected way astatine Race Tasmania, this clip adjacent year.

"We'll get our heads down, bums up and into it."

Part of the woody could spot a operator from France contention successful Australia.

This year, Garry Rogers Motorsport operator Ben Bargwanna volition contention 2 rounds of the TCR World Tour successful a Peugeot.

Bargwanna is the lad of Bathurst 1000 victor Jason Bargwanna, who was portion of the Bathurst 1000-winning effort by Garry Rogers Motorsport successful 2000.

The opening circular of the 2023 TCR Australia Series takes spot astatine Symmons Plains connected February 24-26.

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