HMO Customer Racing had a bittersweet first day of official practice for the 2023 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Championship at Symmons Plains, with Bailey Sweeny setting the pace at the front of the pack while Josh Buchan was hampered by mechanical issues near the back of the grid.
Sweeny set the fastest time in the first of two 20-minute practice sessions around the fast 2.41km circuit, located just south Launceston in Tasmania, and traded times at the top of the timesheet with Will Brown to finish the second session just over 0.1sec behind in second place.
Buchan, on the other hand, battled with an engine issue in his new generation Hyundai i30 Sedan N TCR that restricted his outright top speed, a critical factor to achieving a fast lap time at Symmons Plains. He finished ninth and 12th respectively in the two practice sessions.
Qualifying begins at 1:20pm Saturday with the first of three 30-lap races at 4:10pm.
What the Drivers said:
Bailey Sweeny – Hyundai i30 N TCR #130
“It’s been a really positive start to the season; we were fastest yesterday in the tyre test and then quickest again in P1 and second in P2. It’s very close at the top of the timesheets and it feels like the difference between a great lap and a good one will be first or fifth, but hopefully we remain at the pointy end. Let’s see what the weekend brings.”
Josh Buchan – Hyundai i30 Sedan N TCR #30
“Well, practice is done and dusted for the first round and we’ve got some work to do to extract more speed from the i30 Sedan N TCR. We’ll put our heads into the laptops and see what we can come up with and hopefully find a fix for qualifying and fight a little higher up the grid. Bailey is doing a great job on the other side of the garage, so at least one of us is kicking goals. But we won’t give up and hopefully the races come to us.