News

12 July 2019 | Featured

Damaging start for Moffat and Brown at The Bend in Practice 1

A 140km/h crash has left James Moffat facing an uncertain weekend after opening practice for the carsales TCR Australia Championship weekend at Tailem Bend outside Adelaide.

Moffat was the innocent victim when he was rear-ended by championship leader Will Brown on a streaming wet circuit, leaving his Garry Rogers Motorsport team with a major repair job.

The rear end of his Renault Megane was heavily damaged, with the bodywork pushed into the back seat area, leading to a total re-end rebuild before the car can return to action.

“It was 100 per cent my fault. The car aquaplaned and I slid into him,” Brown reported.

“I went straight down to apologise. It’s definitely not something I like. I would rather have crashed into the wall than hit him.”

Brown’s Hyundai i30N missed the rest of the opening practice but will be quickly repaired as the impact only resulted in cosmetic damage to the Korean car.

It needed a full strip-down, with new radiators and other incidental pieces, but there was no damaged to the front chassis rails.

“We were lucky. It is relatively easy to repair,” said Brown.

For Moffat, who is returning to full-time racing in the TCR series, the weekend could not have had a worse start.

“It was a massive hit. I didn’t even see him coming,” he said.

“It was pretty slippery at that corner and I think he got caught out. He’s been to apologise and that’s fine.”

TCR rookie Jordan Cox finished the opening session in top spot, ahead of Dylan O’Keefe and Nathan Morcom.

Russell Ingall managed a top-10 spot in his first TCR outing in an Audi RS3.

“Well, that’s done. Not a great way to start in the rain, but I had fun,” Ingall said.

RESULTS, PRACTICE 1 

Pos Num Driver Team Car Time  Gap
1   38 Jordan Cox (NSW)        Wall Racing                    Honda Civic Type R   2:10.0097
2    9 Dylan O’Keeffe (Vic)    Ashley Seward Motorsport       Alfa Romeo Giulietta 2:10.6182 00.6085
3   11 Nathan Morcom (NSW)     HMO Customer Racing            Hyundai i30N         2:10.9972 00.9875
4    2 Aaron Cameron (Vic)     Melbourne Performance Centre   Volkswagen Golf GTI  2:11.3207 01.3110
5   50 Tony D’Alberto (Vic)    Wall Racing                    Honda Civic Type R   2:11.4196 01.4099
6    4 Garth Tander (Vic)      Melbourne Performance Centre   Audi RS 3            2:11.4696 01.4599
7    7 Jimmy Vernon (NSW)      Garry Rogers Motorsport        Alfa Romeo Giulietta 2:11.7283 01.7186
8  777 Andre Heimgartner (NZ)  Kelly Racing                   Subaru WRX STi       2:11.9730 01.9633
9  100 Russell Ingall (Qld)    Melbourne Performance Centre   Audi RS 3            2:11.9985 01.9888
10  62 Alex Rullo (WA)         Kelly Racing                   Holden Astra         2:12.5532 02.5435
11   8 Jason Bright (Vic)      Taskforce / Alliance Autosport Volkswagon Golf GTI  2:12.6769 02.6672
12  24 John Martin (NSW)       Wall Racing                    Honda Civic Type R   2:12.8389 02.8292
13  33 Chris Pither (NZ)       Garry Rogers Motorsport        Renault Megane RS    2:13.7092 03.6995
14  30 William Brown (Qld)     HMO Customer Racing            Hyundai i30N         2:15.2340 05.2243
15   3 Leanne Tander (Vic)     Melbourne Performance Centre   Audi RS 3            2:15.6237 05.6140
16   6 Molly Taylor (NSW)      Kelly Racing                   Subaru WRX STi       2:16.7551 06.7454
17  35 Alexandra Whitley (Qld) Alliance Autosport             Volkswagon Golf GTI  2:16.7983 06.7886
18  34 James Moffat (Vic)      Garry Rogers Motorsport        Renault Megane RS    2:17.5866 07.5769
19  37 Chelsea Angelo (Vic)    Kelly Racing                   Holden Astra         2:35.6489 25.6392