News
HMO ready to return to three-car TCR team
SUCCESS in the opening two rounds of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series has HMO Customer Racing ready to grow their team should the opportunity present.
The team downscaled from three cars to two this year, with Bailey Sweeny driving an existing Hyundai I30N TCR hatchback and Josh Buchan the team’s brand new sedan.
Sweeny claimed victory in the series’ opener at Symmons Plains, while after a tough start to the year Buchan was in stunning form at Phillip Island last weekend – claiming two wins and the round to leap to fourth overall.
Sweeny continues to lead the series following the first two rounds.
The team had focussed on their two-car program for the opening rounds of the series however HMO Customer Racing’s Chief Engineer Rob Benson says the team is now ready to plot a return to three cars moving forward.
“As we have proven with Will Brown in 2019 and more recently with Josh and Bailey, the TCR Australia Championship is a great platform for young drivers to establish their touring car racing credentials in a competitive series with world-class cars,” Benson said.
“HMO Customer Racing is proud to be able to foster these stars of the future. As you know, we scaled back to a two-car operation for the start of the 2023 season, but we are open to running a third car again to help launch the career of another champion of the future.
“We have a car with race-winning pedigree at the workshop and top-level engineering resources at our disposal.”
Benson said any decision to return to a three-car squad would come without compromising the existing – and successful – setup.
“It goes without saying that any decision to run three cars again would have to be under the right conditions with the right driver that contributes to the team and doesn’t compromise our ambitions to provide Josh and Bailey with the best chance of winning races and the 2023 TCR Championship.
“While we don’t have any plans in place to talk about today, we are certainly open to the idea.”
The Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series returns for Round 3 of the series at Hi-Tec Oils Race Winton, on June 9-11 – with tickets on sale for the event now.