News

10 February 2022 |

HMO Customer Racing ready to regain Supercheap Auto TCR Australia title

An expanded full-time three-car attack for inaugural Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series winning team HMO Customer Racing brings a reinvigorated motivation for victory in 2022.

Race winning pair Nathan Morcom and Josh Buchan are joined by rookie Bailey Sweeny as for the first-time it will run three entries for the entire season after doing so at two rounds in 2021.

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Morcom finished sixth in last year’s title, finishing on the podium twice, while Buchan took two race wins in his rookie season at the team’s home circuit, Sydney Motorsport Park.

Extensive work has been undertaken during the off-season to the team’s trio of i30 N TCRs as it aims to recapture the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia title it won with Will Brown in 2019.

A striking new livery featuring increased support from N Performance Australia, Nulon, Rondo, DPO, La Fresca, STM and P1 was launched prior to the opening round, closely related to Hyundai’s representation in its WTCR campaign.

Fulfilling the Team Manager role as well as driver, Morcom believes HMO Customer Racing is entering this season its strongest after a big off-season.

“I’m really excited to get racing again and I’m confident that I, and the team, have never been better prepared for the start of a season,” said Morcom.

“The cars look fast in their new livery, and we’re starting bigger and better than ever with three fully-refreshed Hyundai i30 N TCRs.

“We had our ups and down last year, and we’ve taken what we learnt from the positive results and look to put those lessons into practice this season with consistent podium results to keep us in the hunt for the championship throughout the entire year and get these cars back to where they deserve – up the front.”

After an impressive rookie campaign, Buchan is aiming for consistency as he targets the title in 2022.

“The goals for 2022 are pretty simple; get out there and if anyone is in front of me then pass them,” Buchan said.

“Hopefully that will be good enough to claim the series, or at least a couple of race wins along the way.

“The value of scoring points is very, very obvious; going into the last round of the 2021 series we had a mathematical chance of taking the title but it fell apart. My aim is to be consistently up at the pointy end of the grid and take some gold.”

For Sweeny, this weekend at Symmons Plains marks a big step in his racing career as the Erebus Racing Academy member has ticked all the boxes in his preparation to be on the pace.

“This is undoubtedly the biggest weekend of my racing career so far; a new car, new competitors and a new track that I’ve never physically raced on before,” Sweeny explained.

“I’m really excited for the challenge and have been watching plenty of on-board videos and using my simulator to familiarise myself as much as possible.”

“The test day at Wakefield Park was really positive and I managed to get a lot of laps in. The Hyundai i30 N TCR is nothing like what I’ve driven in the past but it feels like a fantastic race car. I’ve got a steep learning curve ahead of me and I know that I’ve got a great team, and team mates alongside, to help me climb it.”

The opening round of the 2022 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series will be held at Symmons Plains Raceway for the second running of the AWC Race Tasmania on February 11-13.

CLICK HERE for tickets

Racing will be available to stream ad-free, live and on demand on Stan Sport, with live coverage also on the Nine Network.