Sandown Raceway, Melbourne: HMO Customer Racing’s Josh Buchan remains in title contention for the 2022 TCR Australia Championship heading into the final round at Bathurst following a wet and wild weekend of racing at Sandown Raceway in Melbourne for Round 6 of series.
The Hyundai outfit started the weekend with plenty of optimism having shown impressive speed in the dry conditions on Friday, with rookie sensation Bailey Sweeny topping the timesheets in the opening practice session closely followed by Buchan in third – the first time both drivers had ever driven the circuit in a Hyundai i30 N TCR.
Sweeny and Buchan backed-up their pace in the second session in fourth and ninth respectively while teammate Nathan Morcom focused on race set-up and finished eighth and 18th in the two practice hit-outs.
The conditions were drastically different on Saturday though as heavy rain saturated the notoriously slippery circuit ahead of qualifying. Still, Sweeny and Buchan both made the top-10 shootout and qualified in ninth and tenth positions respectively while Morcom had an uncharacteristic trip off the road and qualified in 13th.
All three 22-lap races were held in wet and tricky conditions, and Buchan made steady progress and consistently matched the pace of the leaders. He would have scored a string of top five finishes but dropped places in the second race after being tagged by a rival. Instead, he ended the weekend with fifth, ninth and then fourth in the double-points paying final.
The solid haul of results has elevated him back to fourth position on the championship ladder, 93 points from the series leader, heading into the final round, the Bathurst International at Mount Panorama on November 11-13.
Sweeny, meanwhile, produced plenty of highlights throughout the three races and was one of the fastest drivers in the field. But the tricky conditions saw him see-saw through the pack, finishing eighth, 16th and seventh in the three races.
Still, the 19-year-old has moved up one position on the championship ladder to eighth, and is looking ahead to repeat his heroic, race-winning performance at Mount Panorama to challenge for a top-five finish as the highest rookie.
Morcom, meanwhile, had a weekend to forget in the challenging conditions but consistently knocked on the door of the top 10, finishing the three races in 12th, 12th and 11th respectively. The final round of the 2022 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia will be held at Mount Panorama at Bathurst on November 11-13.
What the drivers said:
Car 11 – Nathan Morcom
“The weekend started with a lot of promise as I dialled myself back into the track during practice. But the changing conditions in qualifying meant we headed into the unknown. I was comfortable in the top 10, but then I made an error while adjusting the brake bias and went off the track, which caused a red flag and meant my previous fastest lap was deleted and left me in 13th on the grid. In the opening race, the spray from the other cars was so bad I couldn’t see past my bonnet, so I was cautious and brought the car back in one piece. We tried a different set-up, which was better in some areas but the car lacked drive out of the corners which is critical at Sandown. We then threw what we knew out of the window in race three and tried another set-up direction that was really positive and we had good speed once the tyres were up to pressure. It all came to us just a little too late.”
Practice 1: P8 – 1:15.2093sec
Practice 2: P18 – 1:17.6799sec
Qualifying: P13 – 1:24.4957sec
Race 1: P12 – 1:24.3481sec
Race 2: P12 – 1:23.1932sec
Race 3: P11 – 1:22.2568
Car 30 – Josh Buchan
“It’s been a crazy, crazy, crazy few days at Sandown for the penultimate round. The car was really good straight out the truck in practice one and I only wish it remained dry so the weekend could have run more smoothly than what it did. But, nonetheless, we had some good results and I could have nabbed a podium in the final race if I had got clear of some of the slower cars earlier in the race. But it was a little bit fickle to get by without causing an incident. So, I just had to let the race come to me and chip away. I’m now really looking forward to the last round at Bathurst, especially as we’re not carrying any weight penalties this time around. We should be quick up there, and if the luck goes our way, instead of the way it has missed us a few times this year, then we should be on for a good result.”
Practice 1: P3 – 1:14.9116sec
Practice 2: P9 – 1:15.5151sec
Qualifying: P10 – 1:24.3617sec
Race 1: P5 – 1:22.4784sec
Race 2: P9 – 1:22.7681sec
Race 3: P4 – 1:22.0733sec
Car 130 – Bailey Sweeny
“We had plenty of car speed this weekend and were certainly one of the quickest in the dry, and within the top five in the wet. Unfortunately, we don’t have the results to show it. We accidentally put an old set of wet tyres on for qualifying, which hurt our starting position and put us back in the pack. I had plenty of optimism going into the second race and starting from third, but – as we entered unknown territory with the conditions at the worst – I had a lock-up on the opening lap and lost a lot of places. In race three, I think we really showed the potential of what we could have achieved. After a cautious opening lap, I charged through from 13th to be challenging for fourth until I was taken out by another driver and had to settle for seventh, with the second fastest lap. I’m now focused on heading to Bathurst where I know we can be fast and hopefully repeat my breakthrough TCR victory from earlier this year and reach my target of a top five finish in the championship.”
Practice 1: P1 – 1:14.7623sec
Practice 2: P4 – 1:152462sec
Qualifying: P9 – 1:24.0300sec
Race 1: P8 – 1:22.8218sec
Race 2: P16 – 1:22.6755sec
Race 3: P7 – 1:21.5409sec
2022 Supercheap Auto TCR Championship Points
1. Tony D’Alberto Honda Civic Type R 658
2. Jordan Cox Peugeot 308 TCR 602
3. Will Brown Audi RS3 LMS TCR 585
4. Josh Buchan Hyundai i30 N TCR 565
5. Zac Soutar Honda Civic Type R 565
6. Jay Hanson Audi RS3 LMS TCR 529
7. Dylan O’Keefe Peugeot 308 TCR 502
8. Bailey Sweeny Hyundai i30 N TCR 489
9. Ben Bargwanna Peugeot 308 TCR 479
10. Nathan Morcom Hyundai i30 N TCR 471