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Jay Hanson switches to spare Audi following practice crash
Jay Hanson’s new Audi RS 3 TCR has been withdrawn from Round 3 of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series at Mount Panorama, but he will continue racing in Audi Sport Customer Racing’s spare chassis.
The Audi squad had brought the team’s spare in case of such an event like this, and are currently preparing it ready for Hanson to step back out on track in Practice 2.
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Hanson collected the wall in the run up to The Cutting on the warm-up lap, damaging his new Audi beyond trackside repair. The spare car was last raced by Luke King in the 2021 series.
Team owner Troy Russell said that the damage to the new car could have been repaired if not for the long weekend as there are no smash repairers open in Bathurst today.
“If it wasn’t Easter and there was a panel shop open in town, we could probably try to get the rails pulled back across and fix it, but being Easter Friday, finding a panel shop is really not going to happen,” Russell explained.
“Fortunately, the boys had it [the spare] ready so it’s just roll it out of the truck, put some stickers on it, the right number, put his seat insert in, swap some tyres on the rims, and we’re ready to go.
“We’ll make the next practice no problem.
“We made the call to just can it, move into the other car and we’ll fix it when we get home. It’s just right-front chassis rail damage unfortunately, but other than that it’s not too bad.
“We’ll fix it.”
Hanson was gutted by the incident and said that the reasons were a bit of a mystery.
“It’s lap one – Practice 1 – we’re still getting tyre temp driving around we come into Turn 3 there, the rear came around on me and that’s all it takes throughout this place, isn’t it?” Hanson stated.
“It’s very unfortunate. We’re trying to get as many laps as we can and to learn the new car, and unfortunately, we think the damage is definitely repairable but it’s going to take some time.
“It’s a big learning curve now, stepping into the other Audi. I’m very fortunate for the guys at MPC who are working very hard and to have this spare car here, not many teams can say they have a one that you can get into after a mistake like that.
“Unfortunate for Troy and everyone there but we’re going to get back out there, which is the main thing. Obviously, we’re going to be on the back foot now, we’re just going to cruise around and see what we can do, but it’s very unfortunate and definitely not the way you want to start the weekend.
Practice 2 starts at 2pm AEST Broadcast of the Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour will be live, ad-free and on demand on Stan Sport on Saturday and Sunday.
Tickets for the event are available at the gate.