News
Bailey Sweeny continues at the top of the timesheets after opening practice
HMO Customer Racing’s Bailey Sweeny has continued his position as the fastest Supercheap Auto TCR Australia at Symmons Plains by topping opening practice at AWC Race Tasmania.
Last year’s Rookie of the Year set a time of 55.925s in the first 30-minute session of the year in his HMO Customer Racing Hyundai i30 N TCR to lead MPC Team LIQUI MOLY’s Will Brown by the barest of margins, just 0.009s.
Right behind Brown was the similar Tufflift Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR Gen 2 of Zac Soutar 0.505s off Sweeny’s pace as Burson Auto Parts Racing’s Ben Bargwanna was fourth in the lead Garry Rogers Motorsport Peugeot 308 TCR.
Reigning Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series winner Tony D’Alberto rounded out the top five in his Honda Wall Racing Civic Type R TCR from Valvoline Team GRM’s Aaron Cameron and stablemate Jordan Cox in the Schaeffler Peugeot. The latter encountered a technical problem, which is being attending to currently.
The second Valvoline Team GRM Peugeot of Kody Garland wasn’t far behind in eighth, with Josh Buchan’s HMO Customer Racing Hyundai Elantra (i30 Sedan N) TCR placed behind on the timesheets making its debut at Symmons Plains.
Lachlan Mineeff driving Brown’s older specification Audi from last year rounded out the top 10, which was covered by less than a second.
BTCC race winner Tom Oliphant just trailed in 11th driving the Autoglym Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR from the two Gen 1 specification Audis of Michael Clemente and Iain McDougall.
The Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series will return to the track for a second practice session at 3pm AEDT.
Results:
| Pos | No | Team | Driver | Model | Time | Gap |
| 1 | 130 | HMO Customer Racing | Bailey Sweeny | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 55.925s | |
| 2 | 9 | MPC Team LIQUI MOLY | Will Brown | Audi RS3 LMS TCR Gen2 | 55.935s | 0.009s |
| 3 | 110 | Tufflift Racing | Zac Soutar | Audi RS3 LMS TCR Gen2 | 56.430s | 0.505s |
| 4 | 71 | Burson Auto Parts Racing | Ben Bargwanna | Peugeot 308 TCR | 56.457s | 0.531s |
| 5 | 1 | Honda Wall Racing | Tony D’Alberto | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 56.495s | 0.569s |
| 6 | 18 | Team Valvoline GRM | Aaron Cameron | Peugeot 308 TCR | 56.543s | 0.617s |
| 7 | 33 | Schaeffler GRM | Jordan Cox | Peugeot 308 TCR | 56.657s | 0.731s |
| 8 | 41 | Valvoline Racing GRM | Kody Garland | Peugeot 308 TCR | 56.797s | 0.871s |
| 9 | 30 | HMO Customer Racing | Josh Buchan | Hyundai Elantra TCR | 56.806s | 0.880s |
| 10 | 14 | Forza Brakes Motorsport | Lachlan Mineeff | Audi RS3 LMS TCR Gen1 | 56.861s | 0.935s |
| 11 | 10 | Autoglym ASM | Tom Oliphant | Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR | 56.987s | 1.061s |
| 12 | 15 | Carl Cox Motorsport | Michael Clemente | Audi RS3 LMS TCR Gen1 | 57.084s | 1.158s |
| 13 | 22 | Challenge Motorsport | Iain McDougall | Audi RS3 LMS TCR Gen1 | 57.287s | 1.361s |