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BUCHAN P7, MACMILLAN P13 IN MACAU OPENER
HMO Customer Racing’s Josh Buchan and Ryan MacMillan have driven cleanly to finish seventh and 13th respectively in the opening race of the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour in Macau.
BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse drivers Nestor Girolami and Mikel Azcona led home a 1-2 finish for their Italian team, while Cyan Racing Lynk & Co’s Yann Ehrlacher finished third and scored enough points to secure the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour title – the Frenchman’s third TCR world title following previous successes in the FIA WTCR World Touring Car Cup in 2020 and 2021.
Starting ninth (Buchan) and 15th (MacMillan) for the 10-lap, 61.2km journey, both drivers launched steadily and each gained one position on the opening lap after damage curtailed the Hyundai of Norbert Michelisz.
Two-time TCR Australia Series champion Buchan drove a consistent if somewhat lonely race, while MacMillan latched onto the back of a three-car train of experienced TCR racers Pepe Oriola (Honda) and Santiago Urrutia (Lynk & Co) – both of whom were locked in a lively battle – and multiple TCR World Tour race winner in 2025, Aurelien Comte (Cupra).
The Australian drivers each claimed another spot in the closing stages when Ignacio Montenegro (Honda) ran off circuit, moving up to their eventual finishing positions of seventh (Buchan) and 13th (MacMillan).
In their first races on the notoriously challenging, 6.1km Guia Street Circuit, Buchan and MacMillan significantly closed the lap time gap to the seasoned Macau hands at the front of the field.
Buchan’s fastest race lap (2m31.600s) was within 1.1s of the Race 1 benchmark set by Azcona – down from Buchan’s gap to pole position of 2.3s – while 17-year-old rookie MacMillan lapped within a respectable 2.2s off the fastest race lap, having recovered from a brutal initiation to the Macau streets where contact with the circuit’s ever-present barriers ended the Year 12 student’s progress in both practice and qualifying.
Remarkably, Buchan will start Sunday’s final of the prestigious Guia Touring Car Race from pole position, by virtue of the Race 2 starting positions being a Top 10 reversal of qualifying, where Buchan was 10th fastest. MacMillan will start 16th.
Race 2 in Macau is scheduled for 2:00pm AEDT on Sunday and will be live streamed on YouTube via both the TCR TV and Macau Grand Prix channels.
RACE RESULTS
Kumho FIA TCR World Tour, Macau
Race 1 of 2
1 Nestor Girolami (Hyundai) 10 Laps
2 Mikel Azcona (Hyundai) +0.562s
3 Yann Ehrlacher (Lynk & Co) +1.260s
4 Esteban Guerrieri (Honda) +2.152s
5 Thed Bjork (Lynk & Co) +5.984s
6 Ma Qing Hua (Lynk & Co) +6.483s
7 Josh Buchan (Hyundai) +12.889s
8 Lo Sze Ho (Hyundai) +16.139s
9 Max Hart (Cupra) +17.062s
10 Santiago Urrutia (Lynk & Co) +31.148s
13 Ryan MacMillan (Hyundai) +33.832s