Like they did in Sydney a week ago, a Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series runner has out qualified the Kumho TCR World Tour drivers on Mount Panorama for the final round of the Shannons SpeedSeries.
But rather than Will Brown, it was the reigning Aussie champion Tony D’Alberto and his Wall Racing Honda Civic FL5 that did the job. Besides, his 2:13.357s lap was 0.4s faster that the Internationals that occupied the next three places. Even his second-fastest lap was good enough to secure pole position.
Positions two to four went to Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 03s in the hands of Yann Ehrlacher, Santiago Urrutia and Thed Bjork. Mikel Azcona (Hyundai Elantra) was fifth fastest ahead of D’Aberto’s team-mate Nestor Girolami.
The remainder of the top 10 was made up with Rob Huff (Audi RS3 LMS) and Josh Buchan (Hyundai i30N Sedan). Zac Soutar finished the session with a flat tyre on his Audi while Frederic Vervisch only managed one lap before he garaged his Audi with a damaged wheel.
The first part of qualifying knocked out several top contenders, particularly on the Australian side. Brown (Audi) who was the one to beat at Sydney Motorsport Park a week ago, could only manage 13th. Supercheap Auto TCR Australia points leader Bailey Sweeny (Hyundai) was 16th-fastest with his nearest rival and team-mate Buchan inside the top 10.
Just missing out on a Qualifying 2 berth were TCR World Tour points leader Norbert Michelisz (Hyundai) and Qing Mua Ma (Lynk & Co) in 11th and 12th.
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