TCR Australia has secured its second female driver to take part in 2019 with Queensland-born Alexandra Whitley signing for Alliance Autosport in the inaugural season.
Joining fellow female CAMS Australian Rally Championship regular Molly Taylor in the series, Whitley will be behind the wheel of the ex-Team Engstler Volkswagen Golf GTI with Jason Bright and the newly-named team.
Outside of signing a driver of Whitley’s talent, the Bright led team also secured the services of 2017 Super2 championship team Matt Stone Racing, who will take on preparation and logistics duties for the season.
It’s been a busy six months for Whitley, who has been racing in New Zealand for the past five years, claiming a historic maiden race win in the country’s V8 Utes Championship, before heading over to Europe to take part in the new W-Series qualifying.
While Whitley was unable to make the selection, coming incredibly close in the process, she was thrilled with the opportunity to take on a new challenge on home soil.
“I have never been to Sydney Motorsport Park before, and I’ve never driven a front wheel drive car before, but I’m really looking forward to the challenge of racing in the TCR Australia Series,” Whitley said.
“TCR is going to be very competitive with some well known drivers. If I can rub doors with some of them, I’ll know that I’m doing well.
“This is an opportunity that I have been working towards and I’m very grateful to Matt Stone and Jason Bright for helping to make it happen.
“I’m just looking forward to learning from their knowledge, soaking it up and doing my best.”
On top of supporting Bright and Whitley in the TCR Australia series, Matt Stone Racing will also be continuing their work in the 2019 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, Dunlop Super2 and the Kuhmo Super3 Series.
Despite having such a busy schedule already, MSR owner Matt Stone was happy to get involved with the series through Alliance Autosport.
“This is a great category for Australia and is a great value-add to the racing landscape. The cars are really user-friendly and they are going to have some really good racing,” Stone explained.
“Alexandra has proven that she is a very capable driver and has a vast amount of experience. We’re really looking forward to working with her.
“Jason needs no introduction to Australian motor sport. We know he is going to be a front-runner from the word go and, importantly, he is going to help us get the most out of Alexandra as she gets up to speed in these cars.”
Bright was also excited to get Matt Stone Racing on board for the season.
“It’s great to have Matt Stone and his team come for the TCR ride with us this year,” said Jason Bright.
“The team is very professional and they know exactly what it takes to takes to prepare race cars at the highest level.
“Knowing that my race car is in safe hands, I really can’t wait for the series to kick off. There’s a lot of hype and I know there’s going to be a lot of interested on-lookers at Sydney Motorsport Park.”
The inaugural TCR Australia series begins at Sydney Motorsport Park as part of the Shannons Nationals on 17-19 May.
Broadcast live, free and HD broadcast on SBS, all sessions will be streamed live on the nationals.com.au.