After an eye-catching season in last year’s carsales TCR Australia Series, Dylan O’Keefe is now in Europe and will test the new Vukovic Motorsport Renault Megane RS EVO TCR at the Salzburgring in Austria this weekend.

The 22-year old showed his pace during the inaugural TCR series, which was part of the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships, where he produced a number of victories and podiums behind the wheel of the Alfa Romeo. 

Having now switched to Garry Rogers Motorsport where he will drive one of two Renault Sport Meganes for the 2020 season, O’Keefe will spend this weekend testing the new Megane RS EVO, which has undergone upgrades to the engine, aerodynamics, suspension and transmission. 

O’Keefe’s visit comes off the back of ongoing partnership between GRM and the Swiss-based outfit with the Australian team’s engineering department having assisted on the chassis and suspension.

After landing in Zurich, O’Keefe was thrilled with the opportunity to both test the new car and tour Renault’s TCR homologation team’s workshop.

“It’s a great honour to be here at Vukovic Motorsport’s workshop in Switzerland and get the chance to test the new generation Megane RS EVO,” O’Keeffe said.

“With all that is going on in the world, I thought my chances of doing something like this in 2020 was going to be slim, but when I found out that it was on and I could do it, it was really exciting and I’m grateful for the opportunity.

“I’ve never been to the Salzburgring circuit, so I’ve been doing some research and I can’t wait to get there and trial the new car.” 

Garry Rogers Motorsport’s Barry Rogers was pleased the testing could go ahead and believed O’Keefe deserved the chance to go overseas for it

 “Our relationship with Vukovic Motorsport has been fantastic from day one and when they approached us to do this test, despite the challenges the world is facing, we jumped at it,” Rogers added. 

“GRM has been working hard behind the scenes on some track testing, and we’re pleased that our team has played a role in the next generation of Renault’s TCR car.

“GRM sees a bright future in competing in an international category like TCR, and he has recognised the potential the whole program has.

“Dylan's speed last year caught the attention of the Vukovic Motorsport, and that has gone a long way to securing this test.”

O’Keefe will return to Australia shortly after the testing concludes and will continue preparing for the 2020 carsales TCR Australia Series with the revised calendar for the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships to be announced in the coming weeks.