News

9 March 2023 |

Bounce back the aim for Josh Buchan at Phillip Island

Despite a faultless debut of the Hyundai Elantra (i30 Sedan N) TCR at last year’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst International, HMO Customer Racing’s Josh Buchan experienced a frustrating opening round at AWC Race Tasmania.

Sitting eighth in the standings leaving Symmons Plains is not representative of the pace Buchan’s Elantra (i30 Sedan N) TCR displayed in its previous meeting where at Mount Panorama it scored a maiden podium on debut.

Qualifying second for the opening race proved a great start to Buchan’s season until a technical infringement sent him to the back of the grid. A circuit notoriously difficult to pass at, Buchan did finish seventh in the opening race to set up a good starting position for the inverted top 10 grid of the second encounter, though a turbo problem limited the Hyundai’s power output.

“We didn’t have the weekend we expected with a few curveballs thrown at us that put us on the back foot right from the outset.

“The team at HMO Customer Racing did an amazing job to rectify the issues and we know we have a very fast car,” summarised Buchan.

“But we just didn’t have the opportunities to showcase its speed here at Symmons Plains because it is such a difficult track with limited passing. If we had kept our second place from qualifying it would have made the rest of the weekend a lot easier, but that’s racing…”

Unable to progress further than ninth in the final race, Buchan is excited by the potential of the new model at a circuit he believes it will excel at.

“On the bright side, we got a bunch of points, the car isn’t damaged and we’ve learnt a lot more about the Hyundai i30 Sedan N TCR,” he continued.

“Plus, we’re not taking any success penalties to Phillip Island where we know the car will be strong.

“I can guarantee we will try everything to get back to the front and make it a lot easier than what we had here.”

Buchan will continue his quest for the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series title at Phillip Island as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries on May 12-14.