HANSON WINS TCR OPENER AT THE ISLAND
Jay Hanson has recorded his second race victory of the TCR Australia Series after losing the lead off the start he quickly fought back before romping home to take the win.
The Melbourne Performance Centre Audi driver breezed by Michael Caruso coming onto the pit straight at the end of the first lap and from there continued to extend the margin until late on.
Garry Rogers Motorsport driver Jordan Cox came from fifth on the grid and towards the end started to chip into the lead of Hanson, but it was not enough, the Peugeot driver came home in second place.
It was a frantic race which contained several incidents, the most notable of which occurred on lap 3 when Liam McAdam and Michael Caruso collided fighting for second position into Honda hairpin.
Caruso spun into the gravel trap; he was able to get out but fell to the back of the field.
McAdam was able to continue without damage, but received a penalty the incident at Honda.
The series leader heading into the race Josh Buchan had a shocker contact early in the race forced him into retirement.
Out on the track Hanson took the win by 1.7s from a pair of GRM Peugeots driven by Cox and Dylan O’Keeffe.
The two Peugeots were followed by a pair of Honda Civics, with recently signed Walkinshaw Andretti United co-driver Fabian Coulthard scoring his best TCR Australia result in fourth.
His brand mate and Tasmania race winner Zac Soutar was fifth, just over a second clear of a third Peugeot driven by Aaron Cameron.
Tony D’Alberto was in the thick of the action throughout, but managed to bring the car home in seventh ahead of Lachlan Mineeff in his privately run Volkswagen Golf.
On his return to the TCR Australia Series Michael Clemente also finished inside the top 10.
There was a scrap 10th place, the inverted pole position slot for Race 2. In the end it was Ben Bargwanna who prevailed.
Bailey Sweeny was the unlucky man caught out and will start from 11th. With both of his HMO Customer Racing teammates Buchan and Nathan Morcom retiring it was a day to forget for the Hyundai i30 squad.
Former Supercars driver James Moffat finished the race in 12th ahead of Iain McDougall, Brad Shiels, Kody Garland and a frustrated Caruso.
Former TCR Australia Series winner Will Brown finished the race however was forced into the lane with damaged steering after contact with Morcom.
McAdam and Buchan were not classified as finishers.
The final two races of TCR Australia will be streamed exclusively live on Stan Sport with coverage commencing at 11am AEDT.
