D’Alberto dominates incident filled TCR opener

Tony D’Alberto has opened his Supercheap Auto TCR Australia account by controlling a shortened race at AWC Race Tasmania.

Despite an early red flag caused by Ryan Casha and Safety Car by Brad Harris, D’Alberto kept his cool to lead all of just 10 laps of race 1 of round 2.

Josh Buchan continued his consistent start by crossing the line second best 1.6s back with Zac Soutar joining them on the podium.

After a one-sided Sandown opener, D’Alberto’s success meant Honda ended Peugeot’s run of wins.

There was some controversy around the result given the #2 Honda being cleared of a jump start in the inital standing start before the red flag but the 2022 champion laughed it off.

“The car is really quick this weekend,” D’Alberto said.

“That was a perfect start. i dont know what everyone else was doing!”

When lights went out D’Alberto blazed into the distance leaving Buchan and Soutar to fight for second.

D’Alberto was under investigation for a jump start but he was cleared by the officials.

Starting fifth Casha was running just behind Harris as the field filtered through turn 3 and into the opening straight.

But Casha ran out of room on corner exit and hit the fence hard. The front left wheel parted from the Peugeot instantly as the #79 GRM ended up beached in the sand trap.

Rookie Casha was devastated by the DNF and felt Harris squeezed him out of room.

“I just think it was stupid,” Casha said.

“We were running two wide through 1 and 2 and felt I was right next to him. We were literally door to door.

“I just feel bad for the team because they don’t deserve it. What do you do.”

Harris naturally had a different take.

“I had a really good run through turn 2 and we ran side by side but i was in front of him well and truely,” Harris replied.

“He then tagged the rear of me and drive into the armco so drove into a gap that was closing.”

At the second standing start it was Buchan who got the better getaway on the front row but D’Alberto fought back and made good use of the inside running at turn 2.

This proved to be the decisive move as Buchan was unable to mount a challenge for the remainder of the race.

Harris got a good start and snatched third from Soutar, while third generation racers Ben Bargwanna and Clay Richards ran side by side for fifth.

That battle went to Richards who got the job done in the Cupra at turn 6.

Harris was looking racey in third and lined up a challenge around the outside of Buchan on the approach to the hairpin on lap 2, but got it badly wrong.

He could not stop his #74 Honda, finding the dirt and became the second car stuck in the gravel.

Only the Safety Car was required this time and a restart arrived on lap 5 where most of the field held position apart from Cox, who attacked Bargwanna with a bold move around the outside of the hairpin.

Despite the likes of Bargwanna, Cox, Tom Oliphant and Aaron Cameron wrestling for position, the race settled down with D’Alberto building a 1s lead.

Cameron and Oliphant carried on their squabble for seventh, running side by side for the best part of a lap.

But this ended in tears as side by side contact over the hump saw Oliphant skating across the gravel between turns 1 and 2.

Due to the early stoppages, the race was shortened to 10 laps and D’Alberto cruised to the flag.

Two TCR races are on offer on Sunday at 12.25 and 15.15 AEDT.

Image: David McIntee

Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series race 1 results

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