TCR BACK AT HISTORIC SANDOWN

After a three year absence the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia series is finally back at Historic Sandown with the title on the line entering its penultimate round at the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championship.

After securing his first wins of the 2022 season after three podium’s, Tony D’Alberto’s consistent year has earned him the points to sit atop the standings with a 58 point lead over GRM’s Jordan Cox.

D’Alberto took his Wall Racing Honda Civic Type R TCR to two victories at the Queensland Raceway, whilst Cox missed out on the podium’s for just the second time this year, and is looking to rebound on GRM’s home turf.

Jay Hanson sits just two points behind Cox, with the young Victorian having won a race at every meet except Bathurst, and will be hoping to stay in close championship contention in the #9 AWC MPC Audi RS3 LMS.

D’Alberto dominated in his Wall Racing Honda for his breakthrough 2022 wins at the Queensland raceway. Photo: Daniel Kalisz

Another surprise packet this season has been privateer Zac Soutar in the #110 Honda Civic Type R. Soutar won race 3 of the opening round in Tasmania, and found himself twice on the podium in Queensland to sit fourth in the standings, just 15 points on Hanson.

With an 85 point deficit on the #50 Wall Racing championship leader, Josh Buchan is expected to be competitive in the South Korean make #30 Hyundai i30 N TCR with Sandown’s slower cornering, and holds a slender lead over the 2019 TCR Australia champion in Will Brown.

For Buchan, it’s his first hit-out at sandown in a competitive racing capacity, and after finishing seventh in last year’s championship, is keen to put himself in a strong position prior to the last round at Bathurst on November 11-13.

“Surprisingly, I have never actually raced at Sandown before,” said Buchan

“I have done plenty of laps around there with driver training events in road cars, but that isn’t an indication of how the weekend is going to go for me.

“Looking at the weather report though, I think all bets are off and the form guide is going to be very hard to read. Hopefully the fact we’re not carrying any weight penalties this weekend means we have an advantage compared to others, and it is important for me to have a clean weekend and carry the championship challenge into the final round at Bathurst.”

After having a difficult outing at Pukekohe in the Supercars, Brown’s #999 Audi RS3 LMS TCR will be super competitive on the long straights at the aggressive Sandown track, and could potentially be the surprise packet to push up into championship contention this weekend.

Supercheap Auto TCR Australia’s three races will be covered by Stan Sport’s live, uninterrupted and on-demand coverage.

The opening race will also be broadcast live on the Nine Network, 9Gem/9Go! (check your local guides) as part of two hours of free-to-air coverage on Saturday at 3pm AEST.

Entry list, 2022 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series Round 6 Sandown Raceway

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