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Clairet’s early Christmas!

Clairet’s early Christmas!

Teddy Clairet can be forgiven for thinking Christmas is coming a little earlier this year following an unexpected but exciting proposal to compete at Bathurst in November. His Peugeot 308 TCR will be run there by local outfit GRM (Garry Rogers Motorsport), a contender for the 2022 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia title.

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Teddy Clairet is accustomed to the whirlwind life of a modern-day racing driver. The end of his 2022 season has just become a whole lot busier, however, after his recruitment to represent France at Le Castellet, France, in the FIA Motorsport Games (October 26-30). That will be followed by a trip to Australia to contest the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia finale (November 11-13) in a Peugeot 308 TCR as part of an unprecedented swap at this level.

There is no actual link between these two events, apart from the fact that I learned I was going to do them over a period of just days,” explains the 29-year-old Frenchman. “The last part of my campaign is consequently going to be quite hectic, but also extremely motivating, with so much to discover. An early Christmas, you might say!

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Motor racing is a family affair in the Clairet household and two members of the Paris-based clan are actually planning to travel to Australia next month. “I have always gone racing with my brother Jimmy, so there’s no way I’m going to make the trip to legendary Bathurst without him!”

 

As chance would have it, one of GRM’s young Australian drivers Aaron Cameron will be at Le Castellet to defend Australia’s colours in the FIA Motorsport Games. “We’ve naturally been emailing each other already,” admits Peugeot Sport’s future ambassador to New South Wales. “Aaron’s got lots of questions about Le Castellet and I’ve been quizzing him about his team and Bathurst. To familiarise myself with the circuit, I aim to do a few sessions on the simulator.

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Teddy Clairet has already wrapped up this year’s TC France crown in his 308 Racing Cup and came second in the 2019 TCR Spa 500 at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, in a 308 TCR, the car he says has made the biggest impact on his career to date.

 

Today, the 2014 208 Racing Cup and 2018 Peugeot 308 Racing Cup champion is keen to broaden his horizons. He has already sampled the 20 kilometres of Nürburgring’s awesome Nordschleife in Germany and can’t wait to get to grips with Bathurst’s challenging six-kilometre loop in a Peugeot 308 TCR…

 

“I am familiar with the car, and GRM is a family-based operation, like ours,” he concludes. “The cars they run look competitive, so I don’t think I’ll have any trouble adapting and I intend to give it my very best shot.”

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