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Buchan Pounces Early to Take Phillip Island Victory
Josh Buchan has kept the good times rolling for HMO Customer Racing, taking out race one of the weekend for round three of the 2024 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series at Phillip Island.
Starting from third on the grid, Buchan pounced as Wall Racing teammates Brad Harris and Tony D’Alberto did battle through the opening corners. Buchan saw D’Alberto dislodged from the lead at turn four, and took control of the race, sprinting away to an eventual victory.
D’Alberto was relegated to the back of the field after the contact, with the matter currently under investigation.
*EDIT – Brad Harris has since been given a 10-second time penalty for contact on lap one.
Zac Soutar climbed to second early on, but quickly came under fire from Harris. The duo battled until the final lap where a hearty dive at MG saw Harris reclaim the second spot from which he started.
Further back there was another intra-team battle as Aaron Cameron and Jordan Cox diced for the reverse grid pole. Fellow GRM driver Ben Bargwanna was also in the action as he engaged in an entertaining fight with Clay Richards (Carl Cox Motorsport).
After dropping spots off the line, Dylan O’Keeffe battled back to fourth for Ashley Seward Motorsport while Bargwanna prevailed over Richards to take the final spot in the top five.
Ryan Casha, Tom Oliphant, Aaron Cameron and Will Harris completed the top 10. Cox just missed out on the final spot in the top 10 invert, with Glenn Nirwan home in 12th ahead of debutant Jude Bargwanna in 13th and D’Alberto 14th.
In winning the race, Buchan also posted the new official TCR lap record at Phillip Island with a 1:36.7171s (official lap records can only be set during a race).
Full results are be available here.
Race two for the weekend takes place at 1:25pm local time on Sunday afternoon, live on 7plus.