HMO Customer Racing’s Josh Buchan clinched the 2023 TCR Australia Championship in a dramatic final round at Mount Panorama on Sunday.
The 28-year-old Sydneysider battled against the best touring car drivers in the world as Bathurst played host to the second Australian TCR World Tour round, overtaking his teammate Bailey Sweeny who was hampered by mechanical gremlins all weekend.
Buchan finished the season with 807 points with team mate Bailey Sweeny in third, helping HMO Customer Racing score its third TCR Australia Teams’ Championship.
The HMO Customer Racing teammates were evenly matched during practice, with Buchan and Sweeny finishing fourth and fifth in the opening session. The duo reversed the order in the second hit-out, with Sweeny crossing the line with the 10th fastest time while Buchan was less than 0.1sec slower in 11th.
The drama began to unfold in qualifying as Sweeny’s Hyundai i30 N TCR was hobbled by a turbo charger problem that significantly affected his top speed on the critical long straights of Mount Panorama. Although he set the fastest sector across the twists and turns across the top of the mountain, he missed out on promotion to the top 10 shootout for the first time this season, finishing in 16th position.
Buchan, meanwhile, progressed into the final session of qualifying as one of only two TCR Australia competitors to match the TCR World Tour rivals, setting the eighth fastest time in his Hyundai i30 Sedan N TCR.
He maintained that position in a relatively trouble-free first 11-lap race, which handed him a second row start for the reverse-grid second race and closed the championship gap to Sweeny, who recovered a few positions to cross the line in 12th.
Buchan lost ground during the opening laps of the second race after he was boxed out by the aggressive international competitors and lacked pace on used tyres, falling back to 11th – but third among the TCR Australia drivers – at the chequered flag.
Sweeny, meanwhile, further succumbed to turbocharger issues, and made numerous unscheduled visits to the pitlane to rectify the issue. While he crossed the finished line in 21st position, he wasn’t officially classified.
With a point to prove in the final race, Sweeny bolted from 17th on the grid to charge through to eighth place – and second of the TCR Australia competitors – only to be disqualified after the race for a technical infringement owing to the turbo charger issues, relegating him to third in the championship standings.
Buchan, meanwhile, nursed his advantage and stayed out of trouble to finish 12th (fourth in TCR Australia) in the final race to seal his first Australian motor racing championship.
Car 30: i30 Sedan N TCR – Josh Buchan
“What a crazy weekend, and a tough way to wrap up the championship. We started off with good pace in practice, made it into the Top 10 shootout for qualifying and then had a good result in the first race that really set us up for the rest of the weekend.
I didn’t have much in the last two races and really was just holding on. I was on the radio for the whole time during the last race just asking where I was and what I needed to do to bring it home. Thankfully, it was enough… and here we are, champions for 2023!
“It’s a massive relief. I haven’t won a national championship before, and I’m lost for words at the moment. But super relieved it’s done.”
Car 130: i30 N TCR – Bailey Sweeny
“It’s been a bittersweet weekend at Bathurst, and a weekend of what could have been. We started off strong in practice on Friday and should have had a top five car, which would have been enough to clinch the title. But we were on the back foot from Race 1 with mechanical issues that we kept chasing.
“It was good to show the pace we should have had in the final race, as we were one of the fastest cars on track and it was great fun racing from 17th through to eighth.
“To come so close is hard to take and to say I’m disappointed is a bit of understatement. But congratulations to Josh and the team, and I’m proud of the results we’ve had this year on my side of the garage with race wins, pole positions and leading the championship for almost the entire year.”
Race Results: Round 7, Mount Panorama, NSW
| Josh Buchan | Bailey Sweeny | |
| Practice 1 | P4 (2:17.0646sec) | P5 (2:17.1395sec) |
| Practice 2 | P11 (2:16.0020sec) | P10 (2:15.9286sec) |
| Qualifying | P8 (2:15.1008sec) | P16 (2:15.9187sec) |
| Race 1 | P8 (2:16.6804sec) | P12 (2:16.7331sec) |
| Race 2 | P11 (2:17.3900sec) | DNF (2:26:9432sec) |
| Race 3 | P12 (2:18.1057sec) | DSQ (2:16.2725sec) |
2023 TCR Australia Championship Standings
| Position | Name | Car | Points |
| 1. | Josh Buchan | Hyundai i30 Sedan N TCR | 807 |
| 2. | Tony D’Alberto | Honda Civic Type R | 759 |
| 3. | Bailey Sweeny | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 748 |
| 4 | Aaron Cameron | Peugeot 308 TCR | 743 |
| 5. | Lachlan Minneef | Audi RS3 LMS | 659 |
| 6. | Jordan Cox | Peugeot 308 TCR | 656 |
| 7. | Ben Bargwanna | Peugeot 308 R | 602 |
| 8. | Tom Oliphant | Lynk&Co 3 TCR | 564 |
| 9. | Michael Clemente | Cupra Leon TCR | 504 |
| 10. | Zac Soutar | Audi RS3 LMS | 477 |
