FORMER Super Touring racer David Auger has passed away.
Originally from the UK, Auger emigrated to Australia and based himself in Queensland running the Queensland Gun Exchange based in Brisbane.
He started racing in his native England in 1978 in a Ford Escort and later competed in sportscars before moving to Australia in the early 1980s.
Auger ran a Cortina in Group N historic racing before becoming a regular in the TOCA Australia-run Australian Super Touring Car Championship.
He bought the ex-Steve Richards Alfa Romeo 155 TS from Garry Rogers Motorsport and joined the series as an Independent class runner in 1997.
The Alfa was totalled in a massive rollover in the second round of that year’s series at Phillip Island and was re-shelled using a shell sourced from New Zealand in time to carry on racing in the next round at Calder Park in Melbourne.
Later that season he also hit the headlines when he kicked the Vauxhall of Rob Tweedie in the door after the two had collided in the season finale at the now defunct Amaroo Park in Sydney.
Auger was a regular with the car in the series in the years after, the red Alfa later morphing into a black and yellow livery with backing from Leatherman.
He remained in the series through until TOCA Australia’s withdrawal and carried on racing the Alfa in the aftermath when Super Touring ran alongside Future Touring as part of The Power Tour.
He finished third in the 2000/01 BOC Gases Australian Super Touring Championship and won the Independents Cup in that year’s series.
Auger also made two starts in the Bathurst 1000 in 1997 and 1998 with Lawrie Kyte co-driving. The duo finished 11th in 1997 and 13th in 1998.
He passed away on January 24 this year aged 61.
WATCH HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1999 AUSTRALIAN SUPER TOURING CHAMPIONSHIP HERE:
