Little known Aussie to take on world's best drivers, signs up for another shot at the TCR title
After falling agonisingly short of taking the title last year, Jordan Cox has confirmed he'll return to the TCR Australia Series in 2023.
The Garry Rogers Motorsport driver will return for his third full season in the touring car category driving a Peugeot 308 as part of the SpeedSeries program.
Cox was among the front-runners to win the title in 2022 but stumbled at the final hurdle when he crashed in qualifying for the season-finale at Mount Panorama.
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The Bathurst International proved to be a weekend to forget as he fell from second in the standings to fourth.
The Peugeot 308 that Jordan Cox raced in 2022. Daniel Kalisz
Now, the 25-year-old is focused on redeeming himself by winning the title.
"It is fantastic to be going into another year with the GRM team, to have that consistency with the same group of people is a big boost to start the season," said Cox.
"We had a relatively good season last year, but just when we thought we were making inroads we'd hit a snag of some sort.
"It was frustrating but we know moving into 2023 that we have everything ready to put together a very competitive season."
Jordan Cox won a race in 2022 with Garry Rogers Motorsport and finished on the podium six times. Daniel Kalisz
There's extra incentive this year too with the two TCR World Tour round drawing some of the world's best touring car drivers to Australia.
One of those will be at the season-ending Bathurst International with the other likely to be at Sandown.
The TCR World Rankings have Cox currently placed in the top end, 24th overall.
Ending up at the pointy end will qualify him for the TCR World Ranking final, which will decide who is the best TCR driver from around the globe.
"The World Ranking is an interesting element, it's a pretty good formula from what I've seen, and the World Final will be a sort of carrot being dangled throughout the year for us to chase," said Cox.
"The ranking goes hand in hand with performance however, so our only focus will be to ensure we are performing and fighting for the championship here in Australia.
Jordan Cox will carry Shaeffler backing in 2023. Daniel Kalisz
"The category is getting more competitive, we're seeing more aggressive setups and drivers pushing harder as we have all figured out how to extract the most out of a pretty unique race car.
"It's going to be very interesting when we race alongside the international drivers with the World Tour events.
"We've got a group of really skilled people all pushing hard this year so I'm excited to get the year underway, and I see no reason why we shouldn't be up the pointy end again in 2023."
Cox is the third driver confirmed at Garry Rogers Motorsport after Cody Garland and Aaron Cameron.
The TCR Australia Series season gets underway at Symmons Plains with Race Tasmania on February 24-26.
The touring cars will be supported by the National Trans Am Series, S5000, Touring Car Masters, Tin Tops, and Hyundai Excels.
2023 SpeedSeries calendar (provisional):
Round 1: Race Tasmania, Symmons Plains – February 24-26
Round 2: Bathurst 6 Hour – April 7-9*
Round 3: Phillip Island – May 12-14
Round 4: Winton Raceway – June 9-11
Round 5: Sydney Motorsport Park – June 23-25
Round 6: Queensland Raceway – August 11-13
Round 7: Sandown International Raceway – September 8-10
Round 8: Bathurst International (TCR World Tour) – November 10-12
* - TCR Australia Series not in attendance
