HMO Customer Racing’s Bailey Sweeny has qualified his Hyundai on the front row for Race 1 at the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series round, as part of the Bathurst International event, at Mount Panorama.
Sweeny missed pole by a mere 0.439 of a second but will start from second position and on the front row.
story via TCR Australia
AWC MPC Racing’s Jay Hanson has taken his third pole of the season at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst International, as title contender struck trouble at the start of the session.
Hanson was unstoppable in his AWC MPC Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR as he set a 2m 12.164s to top qualifying by 0.439s to the pacesetter from yesterday, HMO Customer Racing’s Bailey Sweeny.
However, there was drama at the very start of the session as a strange incident between Swyftx Peugeot Cox and stablemate James Moffat in the LMCT+ GRM Racing Renault Megane RS TCR came into contact approaching Griffins Bend.
The two failed to set a time and due to the prolonged stoppage of the session, qualifying was cut down into a 15-minute all-in affair.
Holding a strong affinity with Mount Panorama, Cox will be up for the challenge of scything through the field as Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series leader Tony D’Alberto qualified only 12th in the Honda Wall Racing Civic Type R TCR.
The Peugeots didn’t hold the same advantage as Easter, but Dylan O’Keeffe will be one to watch off third in the Schaeffler GRM Peugeot 308 TCR, with the second HMO Customer Racing Hyundai i30 N TCR of Nathan Morcom fourth, just ahead of the new Elantra N TCR of teammate Josh Buchan.
An impressive performance from Audi privateer Lachlan Mineeff has placed him sixth in the Forza Brakes Motorsport/Purple Sector RS3 LMS TCR from polesitter at Easter Aaron Cameron in the Valvoline Team GRM Peugeot.
Ben Bargwanna was eighth driving the Burson Auto Parts Racing GRM Peugeot from Will Brown’s LIQUI MOLY Team MPC Audi and rounding out the 10 was the Autoglym Ashley Seward Motorsport Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR of Michael Caruso.
Falling short of a top 10 berth by the barest of margins was Hyundai privateer Luke King in the Moutai/ZIP PAY entry from D’Alberto, Kody Garland driving the Valvoline Racing GRM Renault Megane RS TCR and Frenchman Teddy Clairet in the fifth GRM Peugeot.
Michael Clemente was 15th in his first qualifying session driving the Ryco Audi RS3 LMS TCR from Spicers Australia-supported Zac Soutar in his Honda and the Challenge Motorsport entry of Iain McDougall.
The opening race will not be one to miss at 4:00pm AEDT live, uninterrupted and on-demand via Stan Sport in addition to free-to-air coverage on 9Gem starting at 3pm AEDT.
Tickets are available at https://bathurst.international/
If you can’t make it to Mount Panorama, broadcast can be seen live and ad-break free on Stan Sport on Saturday and Sunday. Sign up now for your free 7-day trial >> https://www.stan.com.au/watch/sport/motorsport
The Nine Network will also offer live free-to-air coverage on 9Gem from 3pm-5pm AEDT. Check your local guides.
International viewers can watch on https://motorsport.tv/