D’Alberto tops TCR Practice 1 at Phillip Island

Tony D’Alberto has posted the fastest time in Practice 1 at Round 2 of the 2023 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series.

The 30-minute session kicked off proceedings for this weekend’s Phillip Island round, part of the Shannons SpeedSeries, where Brad Harris makes his debut while Tom Oliphant and Michael Clemente are running brand new cars – a Lynk & Co and a Cupra respectively.

Round 1 winner Bailey Sweeny in the #130 Hyundai i30 N set a 1.44.905 early, with daylight back to Oliphant’s 1:49.4405 in P2, with Harris in third with a 1:52.1339.

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Sweeny then clocked a 1:40.6365, before 2022 champion Tony D’Alberto went to P1 with a 1.40.0022 in his Honda Civic Type-R, with Clemente showing immediate pace in his new Cupra with a 1:41.7658 to be third fastest eight minutes into the session.

The times began to tumble as Josh Buchan then went to the top for mere seconds, as D’Alberto then put in a 1:38.153, with Zac Soutar 0.3153 behind and Aaron Cameron third with a 1:39.302.

Sweeney then returned fire with a 1:38.1030 with just under 20 minutes of the session remaining, with most of the field having covered five laps around the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit.

D’Alberto then responded with a 1:37.6178 in this Honda, Soutar joining him in the 37s with a 1:37.6573 to sit in second.

With just under 17 minutes remaining, a red flag halted proceedings as  Will Brown – a race winner in Wanneroo at the last Supercars round – was yet to turn a hot lap in his Audi RS3 sedan when it became stranded at Turn 11 suffering an electrical issue.

With 12:40 left, the session recommenced as Brown’s car was towed back to pit lane and would not make it back out for the rest of the session.

Lachlan Mineeff hadn’t made it out, the team suggesting that he was simply saving laps in his Forza Brakes Motorsport Audi RS3 sedan, leaving his first run until 22 minutes into the session.

As the pace wound up again, Oliphant then climbed from seventh to fourth with a 1:38.4446 as third-placed Sweeny went faster in the first sector but didn’t improve on his time.

Clemente then jumped from P9 to seventh with a 1:38.7035m ahead of debutant Brad Harris’ Honda and Aaron Cameron’s Peugoet 308, with Jordan Cox in P10.

The fastest three – D’Alberto, Soutar and Sweeny – remained in place with five min to go, as Buchan jumped Ben Bargwanna for fifth and Cox – also in a Peugeot – rose from 10th to eighth with a 1:38.7592.

Mineeff posted his first proper lap with three minutes to go, a 1:38.6350 which was good enough to bump Cox from eighth and remain so as the session ended.

Practice 2 will commence at 15:25 local time/AEST.