Will Brown has finished eight tenths clear of HMO Customer Racing team-mate Nathan Morcom in the opening practice session for the TCR Asia Pacific Cup at Albert Park.
Brown, who drives the #1 Hyundai i30 N having won last year’s TCR Australia series, established himself as the man to beat as soon as lap times moved to an area anywhere near representative.
He was, at times, more than two seconds faster than anyone else and got as quick as a 2:04.6467s around the 5.3km Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix venue.
Morcom’s best was a 2:05.4817s, which edged Aaron Cameron (Garry Rogers Motorsport Peugeot) back to third at 1.5244s off the pace.
James Moffat (GRM Renault) was a late mover to fourth on a 2:06.1844s, ahead of Ashley Seward Motorsport Alfa Romeo drivers James Allen and Jay Hanson.
Rounding out the top 10 were Stan van Oord (Track Tec Audi), Jason Bargwanna (GRM Peugeot), Zac Soutar (Team Soutar Honda), and Garth Tander (Melbourne Performance Centre Audi).
Michael Caruso (#7 GRM Alfa Romeo) ended up 13th on a 2:07.3922s in his first TCR session.
Practice 2 starts at 14:15 local time/AEDT.
Results: Practice 1
| Pos | Num | Team/Sponsor | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Split |
| 1 | 1 | HMO Customer Racing | Will Brown | Hyundai I30N | 2:04.6467 | |
| 2 | 11 | HMO Customer Racing | Nathan Morcom | Hyundai I30N | 2:05.4817 | 0:00.8350 |
| 3 | 18 | Team Valvoline GRM | Aaron Cameron | Peugeot 308 TCR | 2:06.1711 | 0:01.5244 |
| 4 | 34 | Renault Sport GRM | James Moffat | Renault Megane RS | 2:06.1844 | 0:01.5377 |
| 5 | 10 | Ashley Seward Motorsport | James Allen | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 2:06.5203 | 0:01.8736 |
| 6 | 9 | Ashley Seward Motorsport/AWC | Jay Hanson | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 2:06.7165 | 0:02.0698 |
| 7 | 77 | Track Tec Racing | Stan Van Oord | Audi RS3 | 2:06.7175 | 0:02.0708 |
| 8 | 17 | Burson Auto Parts Racing | Jason Bargwanna | Peugeot 308 TCR | 2:06.7657 | 0:02.1190 |
| 9 | 110 | Team Soutar Motorsport | Zac Soutar | Honda Civic Type R | 2:06.9850 | 0:02.3383 |
| 10 | 75 | Melbourne Performance Centre | Garth Tander | Audi RS3 | 2:07.0485 | 0:02.4018 |
| 11 | 308 | Peugeot Sport GRM Customer Rac | Julien Briche | Peugeot 308 TCR | 2:07.0727 | 0:02.4260 |
| 12 | 100 | Melbourne Performance Centre | Hamish Ribarits | Audi RS3 | 2:07.1816 | 0:02.5349 |
| 13 | 7 | Valvoline Racing GRM | Michael Caruso | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 2:07.3922 | 0:02.7455 |
| 14 | 777 | Milldun Motorsport | Declan Fraser | Volkswagen Golf GTi | 2:07.5135 | 0:02.8668 |
| 15 | 97 | Varta Batteries | Liam McAdam | Audi RS3 | 2:07.8439 | 0:03.1972 |
| 16 | 51 | KCMG Motorsport | Takuya Shirasaka | Honda Civic Type R | 2:07.8451 | 0:03.1984 |
| 17 | 33 | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Dylan O’Keeffe | Renault Megane RS | 2:08.1493 | 0:03.5026 |
| 18 | 22 | Track Tec Racing | Jack Milligan | Audi RS3 | 2:08.3590 | 0:03.7123 |
| 19 | 35 | Melbourne Performance Centre | Alexandra Whitley | Volkswagen Golf GTi | 2:08.8681 | 0:04.2214 |
| 20 | 2 | Melbourne Performance Centre | Chelsea Angelo | Volkswagen Golf GTi | 2:09.4064 | 0:04.7597 |
| 21 | 15 | Wurth | Michael Clemente | Honda Civic Type R | 2:09.5200 | 0:04.8733 |
| 22 | 49 | All-Inkl.com Racing | Rene Munnich | Honda Civic Type R | 2:11.4410 | 0:06.7943 |
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