Brown turns tables in TCR night practice

Will Brown has set the pace in night practice for the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series at Sydney Motorsport Park, courtesy of a late flyer.

Contrary to the narrative of Practice 1 when Brown set the early pace only to be run down by points leader Tony D’Alberto, it was Brown who saved his best for last in the second half-hour session.

Providing crucial running ahead of TCR Australia’s maiden night race tomorrow, it was the Hyundais of Josh Buchan and Nathan Morcom which looked strongest for the most part.

Buchan was the first into the 1:34 bracket – a feat achieved only by D’Alberto in Practice 1 -and Morcom would join him before the halfway mark.

Zac Soutar put his Honda third, only to be displaced by another Civic in Stan Sport-backed Fabian Coulthard before Morcom would lower the time to beat to a 1:34.5207s.

D’Alberto lit up the timing screens inside the final five minutes but lost a fraction of time in the last sector, forcing him to settle for third.

That would become fourth when Brown surged to the top with two minutes on the clock, his 1:34.4707s shaving exactly half a tenth off Morcom’s best effort.

In all, just 0.1237s separated the lead quartet.

Behind Brown and Morcom, Buchan’s early 1:34.5877s was good enough for third, with others in the ‘34s club being D’Alberto, Coulthard and Soutar, in that order.

Aaron Cameron was next best in the lead Peugeot, ahead of Ben Bargwanna, while late improvers James Moffat and Jay Hanson rounded out the top 10.

Beyond that, Michael Caruso, Dylan O’Keeffe, Jordan Cox, Bailey Sweeny and Kody Garland wound up 11th through 15th in the 21-car field.

Notably, the Friday pace flashed in the 2022 edition remains well shy of the qualifying effort O’Keeffe managed last year, a 1:33.3867s.

Qualifying tomorrow begins at 13:35 AEST, with Race 1 to take in 15 laps from 18:55.

All the TCR qualifying and race action is live and ad-free via Stan Sport.