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D’Alberto Leads Wall Racing 1-2 in Opening Queensland Practice
As far as practice sessions go, the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series’ opener at EVENTelec Race Queensland was a beauty.
The two most recent series champions, Tony D’Alberto and Josh Buchan, went toe-to-toe throughout 30 minutes in a battle for the initial ascendancy – and it was the former who wound up drawing first blood in Practice 1.
After leading the bulk of the session, Buchan was knocked off top spot with 10 minutes on the clock as D’Alberto logged a 1m14.2357s.
The Wall Racing Honda ace and Dick Johnson Racing Supercars co-driver then inched away with times of 1m14.2171s and 1m14.1856s on his next two tours of Queensland Raceway, only for Buchan to fire back with a 1m14.1560s.
But D’Alberto wasn’t done yet.
The 38-year-old reclaimed top spot on a 1m14.0400s before landing a knockout blow on his penultimate lap: a 1m13.7005s.
By the end, Brad Harris – who starred at QR last year – had split the duelling D’Alberto and Buchan to finish the session in second, 0.3290s adrift. That also gave Harris the TCR Challenge class honours.
Buchan was third all told, with teammate Tom Oliphant just behind.
As for 2024 points leader Zac Soutar? Down in eighth, with time to find.
There is one more TCR Australia session to come today: Practice 2 at 1:40pm.