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O’Keeffe on Top in Rain Affected Practice
Dylan O’Keeffe topped a wet opening Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series practice session at Race Tailem Bend.
The Ashley Seward Motorsport pilot topped the half-hour session in the #11 Lynk & Co machine, 0.3s clear of Jordan Cox, with points leader Ben Bargwanna rounding out the top three.
After a sunny morning, rain first arrived at The Bend half an hour before the scheduled start time of TCR Practice 1, but stopped prior to the cars heading out onto the still-wet track.
It was Cox who made the best of the greasy surface, dropping in a 1m32.0755s on only his third lap of the session.
Few cars had misadventures despite the tricky early conditions, among them Buchan with half-lose on the exit of Turn 11 on what proved his only flying lap in the session.
The rain returned eight minutes into the session, prompting most of the field to head to the pits, but conditions cleared enough to encourage most drivers to head back out.
Cox was the first to improve on his early mark, trimming it down to a 1m31.9298s.
O’Keeffe lobbed his session-topping effort in as the chequered flag waved to depose Cox and Bargwanna, while Ryan Casha jumped to fourth in the final moments ahead of Aaron Cameron.
Last-start winner Brad Harris was another to improve on his final tour to end the session sixth, with Clay Richards, Tom Oliphant, series returnee Iain McDougall and Glenn Nirwan rounding out the top 10.
Buchan and 2022 series champion Tony D’Alberto both ended the session outside the top 10 having elected to park up when the rain arrived.
Practice two takes place at 2:20pm ACST.