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Josh Buchan has breezed to victory in Race 1 of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series at Sydney Motorsport Park as several big names encountered trouble.
Buchan, who’d beaten Hyundai team-mate Nathan Morcom to pole by more half a second, made a tremendous start to set up the lights-to-flag victory.
It was not such a good getaway for Will Brown, who’d been elevated to the front row by virtue of an engine change-induced grid penalty for Morcom.
Brown was swamped off the line and demoted to fourth, although he managed to eventually pick off the Peugeots of Jordan Cox and Aaron Cameron to regain second.
That’s when trouble struck for the 2019 title winner, a broken damper wiping him out of the race and severely denting his championship challenge, dropping him from second to eighth in the standings.
In an action-packed middle stanza, Fabian Coulthard was spun by Kody Garland at Turn 2, before a flat tyre ruined Michael Caruso’s race.
Ben Bargwanna was set back by an engine misfire, while dramas began with an out lap spin for Braydan Willmington.
Out in front, Buchan ran a trouble-free race to win by 0.9572s from Cameron, with Cox third.
Fourth place helped Dylan O’Keeffe to inherit second in the standings, 34 points behind series leader Tony D’Alberto who came home eighth.
Zac Soutar, Nathan Morcom, Luke King, D’Alberto, Brad Shiels, and Jay Hanson rounded out the 10.
That means Hanson will start Race 2 tomorrow at 11:20 AEST from pole.
Results: Race 1
| Position | Number | Team/Sponsor | Driver | Car | Gap |
| 1 | 30 | HMO Customer Racing | Josh Buchan | Hyundai i30 N TCR | |
| 2 | 18 | Team Valvoline GRM | Aaron Cameron | Peugeot 308 TCR | +0.9572 |
| 3 | 33 | Swyftx GRM | Jordan Cox | Peugeot 308 TCR | +1.2089 |
| 4 | 8 | Schaeffler GRM | Dylan O’Keeffe | Peugeot 308 TCR | +2.5724 |
| 5 | 110 | Team Soutar Motorsport | Zac Soutar | Honda Civic Type R TCR | +7.1765 |
| 6 | 11 | HMO Customer Racing | Nathan Morcom | Hyundai i30 N TCR | +7.4715 |
| 7 | 2 | Moutai/ZIP PAY | Luke King | Hyundai i30 N TCR | +7.9858 |
| 8 | 50 | Honda Wall Racing | Tony D’Alberto | Honda Civic Type R TCR | +14.2313 |
| 9 | 333 | Royal Purple Racing | Brad Shiels | Hyundai i30 N TCR | +14.4318 |
| 10 | 9 | AWC MPC Racing | Jay Hanson | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | +15.9733 |
| 11 | 130 | HMO Customer Racing | Bailey Sweeny | Hyundai i30 N TCR | +16.9933 |
| 12 | 15 | Michael Clemente Motorsport | Michael Clemente | Honda Civic Type R TCR | +17.3524 |
| 13 | 14 | Purple Sector | Lachlan Mineeff | Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR | +17.7764 |
| 14 | 34 | LMCT+ Racing GRM | James Moffat | Renault Megane RS TCR | +18.0452 |
| 15 | 89 | Braydan Willmington Motorsports | Braydan Willmington | Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR | +20.4601 |
| 16 | 22 | Melbourne Performance Centre | Iain McDougall | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | +21.0283 |
| 17 | 24 | Stan Sport Wall Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Honda Civic Type R TCR | +38.3892 |
| 18 | 41 | Valvoline Racing GRM | Kody Garland | Renault Megane RS TCR | +1:08.9969 |
| 19 | 71 | Burson Auto Parts Racing | Ben Bargwanna | Peugeot 308 TCR | +1 lap |
| 20 | 10 | Ashley Seward Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR | +1 lap |
| DNF | 999 | MPC Team LIQUI MOLY | Will Brown | Audi RS3 LMS TCR |
