Batemans Bay race driver Bailey Sweeny wins Rookie of the Year at Bathurst International

The young driver from Batemans Bay has been named rookie of the year on the TCR Australia Series.

It follows a stellar run on Bathurst's Mount Panorama this weekend (November 12-13), where Sweeny claimed first in the opening race and followed up with a second place finish in race three.

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Those latest wins put him in fifth place overall for the series, now complete.

The final weekend of series was full of thrills and kept spectators on the edge of their seats.

The opening race proved dramatic for a few title contenders, with two retiring and others struggling.

It was Sweeny off the start, but his HMO Customer Racing teammate Josh Buchan in the brand new Hyundai Elantra N TCR encountered problems early on and dropped to the back.

Behind Sweeny, AWC MPC Racing's Jay Hanson was hustling in his Audi RS3 LMS TCR, with Dylan O'Keeffe settling into third for Schaeffler GRM Peugeot.

Sweeny continued to lead by just under a second from Hanson and O'Keeffe, when kangaroos caused a safety car on lap 12 and rain began to fall on the mountain.

On the restart, Hanson was all over Sweeny along mountain straight as a fourth-placed Nathan Morcom mounted a challenge on O'Keeffe. Neither were successful.

Ultimately no one could get past young gun Sweeny, in his flying start to the weekend.

In race three, Sweeny dropped to fourth in a crowded leading pack.

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Will Brown (Team MPC) and Tony D'Alberto (Honda Wall Racing) were duking it out for pole position; Dylan O'Keeffe (Schaeffler GRM Peugeot) lost the rear at Griffins Bend and hit the outside tyre wall; and Aaron Cameron (Valvoline Team GRM) made a successful move to the lead.

Through the nail-biting final laps, Sweeny maintained his ground and even managed to chase down the leaders, keeping that pressure on.

Ultimately he managed to push through to a hard-fought second place, right behind Brown.

Accounting for points, Sweeny finished fifth overall in the series with 610 - a huge effort which earned him rookie of the years.

Tony D'Alberto was the ultimate victor, capping off the comp with 711 points; Will Brown was just behind on 702.

The Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series returns next year as part of the SpeedSeries.