News
Solid start to TCR title defence for Tony D’Alberto and Honda in Tasmania
Tony D’Alberto has kickstarted his TCR Australia title defence with a pair of podium finishes at Symmons Plains Raceway in Tasmania this weekend.
The Honda Civic Type R TCR driver finished the weekend with two second places, plus a seventh from the reverse top 10 Race 2.
The results leave him in second place in the standings after a competitive opening round.
In what was D’Alberto’s strongest-ever showing at Symmons Plains Raceway and almost the perfect start to his 2023 TCR campaign.
Starting from second place in the final race of the weekend, D’Alberto made one of his trademark lightening starts, launching into the lead and looked set to claim a Round 1 win, only for a minor gearbox glitch that saw him relinquish a healthy lead to Bailey Sweeny who raced on to victory.
While D’Alberto was disappointed to come home second, he knows the highs and lows of the title chase is only just the beginning.
“It was almost the perfect start to our TCR title defence, but I’m very happy with how the weekend panned out,” said D’Alberto.
“Symmons Plains is typically not the strongest circuit for us, but we proved to be competitive and wee’ve really got our season off to a strong start.
“The gearbox problem in the last race was very rare. We’ve never experienced that before sop we’ll definitely have a look into it to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.
“I can’t thank the crew at Wall Racing and Honda Australia enough. This is a great result for all of us and has set us up well for a strong season.”
The next round of the TCR Australia Series will be held at Phillip Island on May 12-14.
Get yourself trackside for the Phillip Island Shannons SpeedSeries event. Visit http://www.motorsportickets.