News
AZCONA DOMINATES TO POLE, BUCHAN & HMO LEAD THE AUSSIES
BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse driver Mikel Azcona has taken an emphatic pole position for the opening race of the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour round at Tailem Bend.
SP Competition’s Aurelien Comte will start Race 2 (where the grid is determined by an inversion of the top 10 qualifying positions) from pole, by virtue of qualifying 10th.
Azcona, the 2022 FIA WTCR Champion, secured pole for Saturday’s Race 1 with an untouchable performance, comfortably being the only driver to lap under one minute and 55 seconds (1:54.4064) on his first run in Qualifying 2.
The Spaniard’s time was a full seven-tenths of a second quicker than team-mate, Norbert Michelisz second (1:55.1293), who improved after the chequered flag fell to displace Cyan Racing Lynk & Co’s Yann Ehrlacher (1:55.5602) on the front row for Race 1.
HMO Customer Racing and Josh Buchan continue to be the class of the TCR Australia field, qualifying well up the combined order in an excellent fourth (1:55.6846), while rookie Ryan MacMillan was the second fastest local driver and 12th overall, having progressed to the second phase of Qualifying in his first ever TCR event.
Another promising TCR debutant, Ashley Seward Motorsport’s Cody Burcher, looked set to join Buchan and MacMillan in Q2 for the fastest 12 drivers, until a last-gasp effort from Ma Qing Hua pushed the Australian-run Lynk & Co entry to 13th, where it will start both races this weekend.
TCR Australia competitors Brad Harris, Lo Sze Ho, Zac Soutar, Jordan Cox and Iain McDougall will occupy starting positions 14-18 for both of the weekend’s 13-lap races.
Race 1 at Tailem Bend will take place at 2:15pm local time (ACST), with live coverage in Australia on Fox Sports 506 and Kayo.