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Michael Almond tops opening practice session of TCR Australia
Michael Almond, GWR Racing and Hyundai have created their own slice of Australian touring car history, topping the first ever practice session for the car sales TCR Australia Series at Sydney Motorsport Park today.
Almond bolted on new tyres early in the session to set a fast benchmark that none of the other 16 drivers could match over the 30 minutes session.
Second fastest was the HMO Customer Racing Hyundai of Nathan Morcom, just ahead of the Wall Racing Honda of John Martin.
Will Brown made it three Hyundais in the top four, while Dutch Audi recruit Rik Breukers was fifth in the Melbourne Performance Centre RS 3 LMS.
Almond was thrilled to top the first session.
“It’s pretty exciting to top the first-ever TCR Australia practice session,” said Almond.
“It was my first drive of the car, so GWR and Platinum Motorsport did a great job preparing it ahead of this weekend.
“I had a fairly good set of tyres on for that session, I’m not sure what the other teams down the lane were using so it’s still very much early days in the grand scheme of things.
“We’ve got one more practice session this afternoon so we’ll see how that goes and build from there.”
Rounding out the top 10 was Tony D’Alberto (Honda), Dylan O’Keeffe (Alfa Romeo), Chris Pither (Renault), Jason Bright (Volkswagen) and Jimmy Vernon (Alfa Romeo).
The second and final 30 minute practice session for today will be held at 4:45pm AEST today.
RESULTS, PRACTICE 1
|
1 |
29 |
Michael Almond (SA) | Hyundai I30N | 1:35.2320* | |
|
2 |
11 |
Nathan Morcom (NSW) | Hyundai I30N | 1:35.6911 | 0:00.4591 |
|
3 |
24 |
John Martin (NSW) | Honda Civic Type R | 1:36.1134 | 0:00.8814 |
|
4 |
30 |
Will Brown (QLD) | Hyundai I30N | 1:36.4239 | 0:01.1919 |
|
5 |
22 |
Rik Breukers (NED) | Audi RS 3 | 1:36.5154 | 0:01.2834 |
|
6 |
50 |
Tony D’Alberto (VIC) | Honda Civic Type R | 1:36.5492 | 0:01.3172 |
|
7 |
9 |
Dylan O’Keeffe (VIC) | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 1:36.7369 | 0:01.5049 |
|
8 |
33 |
Chris Pither (NZ) | Renault Magane RS | 1:36.9588 | 0:01.7268 |
|
9 |
8 |
Jason Bright (VIC) | Volkswagen Golf GTI | 1:37.0045 | 0:01.7725 |
|
10 |
7 |
Jimmy Vernon (NSW) | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 1:37.2344 | 0:02.0024 |
|
11 |
2 |
Aaron Cameron (VIC) | Volkswagen Golf GTI | 1:37.3648 | 0:02.1328 |
|
12 |
777 |
Andre Heimgartner (NZ) | Subaru WRX STI | 1:37.7292 | 0:02.49 |
|
13 |
62 |
Alex Rullo (WA) | Holden Astra | 1:37.8481 | 0:02.6161 |
|
14 |
37 |
Chelsea Angelo (VIC) | Holden Astra | 1:38.3151 | 0:03.0831 |
|
15 |
34 |
James Moffat (VIC) | Renault Magane RS | 1:38.4163 | 0:03.1843 |
|
16 |
6 |
Molly Taylor (NSW) | Subaru WRX STI | 1:38.8608 | 0:03.6288 |
|
17 |
35 |
Alexandra Whitley | Volkswagen Golf GTI | 1:41.0607 | 0:05.8287 |