LINING up on the same grid as the likes of former Bathurst 1000 winners Chaz Mostert and Garth Tander - it's little wonder Brad Shiels can't wait for Sunday.
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The talented Bathurst driver is set to make his debut in the TCR Australia series in the 2021 season opener at Symmons Plains in Tasmania.
He will race a Hyundai i30 N for Tilton Racing - an opportunity he's been waiting for since signing with the team last year.
"I was all excited last year I got this opportunity and it didn't end up happening, so it's good that it's finally happening now," Shiels said.
"The whole year last year it was trying to get something going and then being let down again, it will be good to finally get to go racing."
The TCR Australia series for 2.0-litre, turbocharged cars made its debut in 2019, with Will Brown crowned champion. Brown has since been promoted to a full-time Supercars seat.
Though COVID-19 meant Shiels did not get his chance to debut in the TCR series last year, he still knows how big an opportunity it is.
"It's awesome with all the big names in there now, you've got Chaz Mostert, Tony D'Alberto, Michael Caruso, there are a heap of ex-Supercars drivers and a current Supercars driver with Chaz," he said.
"It's going to be really, really cool and it's going to be a big effort to get into the top 10 with the awesome drivers that are out there - I can't wait.
"We've got live, free-to-air TV coverage so it's big exposure, it's the category to be in at the moment."
As Shiels indicated, racing as part of a talent packed grid - Bathurst 6 hour winner Nathan Morcom and James Moffat also part of the series - means his skills will be tested.
On top of that he has never previously driven at Symmons Plains, Tilton is making its TCR series debut and he missed the season-opening test day earlier this month. Still, none of that really troubles Shiels. For him to adds to the excitement.
"I haven't driven the car since October, but I did a fair bit of testing to mid-way through last year, so I think I should be okay," he said.
"We are still a little bit behind because we haven't raced at all and all the other teams did the 2019 season and know the cars a bit better than us, but we'll just have to learn as we go. We should be right.
"Tilton has been around for awhile now, but this will be their first race for TCR. Everyone's a bit green and we'll have to learn on the run, but all the mechanics and engineers are really experienced, so I'm sure they'll work it our pretty quick.
"I haven't even been to Tassie before. It looks like a fairly simple track, it's quiet shirt, it's only 2.4 kays long and it looks okay. We've got two practice sessions.
"There's not really any goals as such being our first race, it's hard to compare yourself when everyone else has done race meetings. It will be good to be out on the track with everyone at the same time and see where we are at."
Shiels will get two practice sessions on Sunday ahead of qualifying at 2pm Monday. He'll then contest three races.
