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Buchan Prevails in Tight Qualifying at Sandown
Josh Buchan has put his #1 HMO Customer Racing Hyundai on pole position after an unpredictable opening qualifying session for 2024.
Less than a tenth of a second covered the top three cars at the end of Qualifying 2, but the drama started before the session even began. Will Harris has made way for the remainder of the weekend with sore ribs, with Wall Racing calling in John Martin to play the super sub role. Subsequently Martin’s first look at track action this weekend was when he rolled out for Qualifying 1.
Jordan Cox missed out on qualifying, never making it out of the lane as he discovered a ‘lack of drive’ in his Garry Rogers Motorsport Peugeot.
Tony D’Alberto was the early pace setter in qualifying, leading the field halfway through Qualifying 1. It was a late lap from Ben Bargwanna however that propelled him to the fastest time in the first part of qualifying.
Buchan, D’Alberto, Ryan Casha, Zac Soutar and Aaron Cameron joined Bargwanna in progressing to the second part of qualifying – those six separated by just 0.2295s.
Martin was an impressive 11th on his return, with Iain McDougall leading the TCR Challenge group in ninth.
The times continued to come down in Qualifying 2, with Buchan earning the Astrontech Pole Award thanks to a 1:14.7689s on his third lap. Soutar and Bargwanna both came within a tenth of denying Buchan, ultimately settling for second and third.
Casha will start from fourth in his first outing in TCR Australia, ahead of D’Alberto and Cameron to round of the top six.
Race one takes place at 1:15pm, live on both 7mate and 7plus.
Full Results can be found here – http://racing.natsoft.com.au/results/