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Best qualifying result spurs Liam McAdam on
Just as fellow privateer Zac Soutar shocked by achieving his first win in Supercheap Auto TCR Australia at AWC Race Tasmania, Forza Brakes Motorsport’s Liam McAdam continued this trend albeit in qualifying at Phillip Island.
The Queensland privateer qualified a fine fourth in what was the first meeting his Audi adorned a new orange livery.
From there, a penalty as a result of contact with Michael Caruso dropped him down the order as other problems prevented McAdam from displaying his true potential.
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“It was a bit of an up and down weekend,” McAdam described.
“It obviously started off on a high in qualifying fourth and we were really happy to see we can show that podium pace as I got up to second in the race, but an unfortunate penalty down the order.
“We had a power issue in Race 2. I was pretty keen to get back up through the order, but after two laps the Audi dropped power and I dropped back 1s or 1.5s per circuit due to that, which we got sorted for the next race.
“I used up all our good tyres in the first two races, so I found it a bit hard to get back up the order in the last one.
Reflecting on his time battling some of the category stars, McAdam was not overawed by the situation is eager to continue this when Supercheap Auto TCR Australia heads to Bathurst at Easter.
“I was feeling very comfortable up there actually,” he said. “Out of qualifying we made a few changes of which I knew would make the car go faster, so when it came to race I was super comfortable that I would be able to mix it up the front no problem.
“I got O’Keeffe off the start, Coxy was behind us and staying there, it didn’t feel like he was putting too much pressure on I was mostly being held up by Caruso on those opening laps. Obviously, Jordan Cox isn’t the person you want behind, so I was trying to put a car in between, but it just didn’t work out.”
McAdam’s sole Supercheap Auto TCR Australia round last year was at Bathurst, however it was after a year away due to the global pandemic, so his preparation prior to the upcoming event leaves him aiming for a good result.
“The Audi seems to be the car to have right now,” McAdam enthused. “I’m confident going into Bathurst this time as last year we didn’t have rounds of experience under our belts and we’re back into the groove.
“I’m hoping it’ll be a good round there, the car is strong and I’m feeling just from what we’ve learnt in terms of set-up at Phillip Island, so hoping we can go up there and get a good result.”
Also providing certainty this season is a naming rights partner for his team, which provides McAdam with the perfect mindset.
“It’s great having Forza backing us this year,” he lauded.
“We’ve obviously had a partnership with them for a while and Forza has stepped up to be the naming rights sponsor.
“Having that sorted makes it a little bit easier and means we can do round after round to keep that momentum up.”
More than 70-entries have been received for this year’s Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour in what is the ultimate production car event, which is joined by the third round of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia and Turtle Wax Trans Am Series, the MRF Tyres Australian Pulsar Racing Association, NSW Historic Touring Cars and NSW HQ Holdens.
All of the action will be live, ad-break free and on demand exclusively on Stan Sport in Australia.
CLICK HERE to secure your tickets to the Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour.