Leanne Tander, Molly Taylor and Chelsea Angelo will bring girl power to the grid from Friday to Sunday when The Bend Motorsport Park hosts TCR Australia for the first time.

Established as a cost-effective touring car racing alternative, TCR this year entered the national racing series.

Brands include Alfa Romeo, Audi, Holden, Honda, Hyundai, Renault, Subaru and Volkswagen and more are expected in the classification that allows production-based turbocharged engines with a capacity of up to two litres.

The new competition has also attracted a wide variety of drivers, from legends of the sport to the up-and-comers.

Along with her three-time Bathurst 1000-winning husband Garth, Leanne – an Australian Formula Ford cham­pion – will be racing in an Audi RS 3 LMS at The Bend and is hoping to have a better time than she did at Phillip Island last time out, in June.

“At Phillip Island it was a bit interesting because he (Garth) ran up the back of me; I was coming in fifth and he crashed up the back of me,” she said.

“So that did make it interesting but, to be fair to him, he did get hit from behind.”

While Leanne, 39, has pretty much seen and done it all in racing, 23-year-old Chelsea is only in her early stages on the national stage. She said TCR provided the newcomers such as her with more opportunities.

“It’s really good for those who are trying to break through in motor racing,” Chelsea said. While Molly, 31, won the 2016 Australian Rally Championship, she, too, is in the early stages of her circuit racing career.

“For me, it is a complete jump in the deep end, but I’m learning a lot and loving the experience,” she said.

The three will be among 19 other drivers competing in the class at The Bend.

“It is fantastic for the sport to see more females getting involved in the driving side and behind the scenes, as well,” Chelsea said.

Action starts on Friday with qualifying. There is one TCR race on Saturday and two races on Sunday.