Ashley Seward Motorsport will head into the carsales TCR Australia Series season finale at The Bend Motorsport Park with a new Alfa Romeo Giuliettas in its ranks.
Team boss Ash Seward and Australian international James Allen have been given the keys to the new wheels, which arrived at their headquarters earlier this week, which will race alongside Dylan O’Keefe’s existing Alfa.
Allen enters the round with a large amount of experience on the world stage having competed against the likes of current Formula 1 stars Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris in various Formula Renault classes.
In recent years, the 23-year-old progressed through the European Le Mans Series, winning races in the LMP2 class and competing in the category’s LMP1 class – for which he raced in the prestigious 24 Hours of Daytona.
After having a international career mainly in open-wheel racing, Allen’s carsales TCR Australia Series debut at the Shannons Nationals will also be first race motor race in a touring car.
“This is the first front wheel driver car that 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 I had a test at Winton and that 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.”
Allen will race alongside O’Keefe, who is vying for second place in the series and Seward believed should be aiming for a podium finish, as well as preparing their cars for a bigger and better 2020.
“The new Alfa Romeo only arrived this week, so we’ve done some preparations, did the test yesterday and now we are ready for The Bend,” Seward said.
“The new car is basically the same Dylan’s car. It is newer, so it is just slightly more refined in some areas.
“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.”
The carsales TCR Australia Series will once again feature qualifying and race one on Saturday, before the final two races of the season on Sunday.
Fans unable to attend the round can catch the live stream on thenationals.com.au or watch all TCR races live on SBS.
The final round of the series and the Shannons Nationals will take place at The Bend Motorsport Park on 15-17 November.