Garry Rogers Motorsport director Barry Rogers is confident rookie Kody Garland will bounce back from a tough start to life in the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series.
Garland’s debut event last month at Symmons Plains was over almost before it had begun, crashing heavily enough in Practice 1 to be ruled out of the entire weekend.
With his #41 Renault Megane R.S TCR rebuilt and a Phillip Island test day completed, Garland returns to The Island this weekend for Round 2.
Rogers conceded it had been a whirlwind ride for Garland from impressing in the GRM Combine in January to being on the TCR grid merely weeks later.
“That’s not making excuses for Kody, he buggered up warming his tyres up there in practice,” Rogers told Speedcafe.com.
“He’s not the first one to do it, he won’t be the last one to do it, but unfortunately there was a reasonable amount of Armco when he went left and did some irreparable damage to the car at the track.
“It’s all fixed and going now. He tested at Phillip Island last week and did a really good job.
“I don’t want to put any pressure on him but I think the secret for him will be to just go out and still be there Sunday afternoon, because if he does, you’ll see another good young guy on the way through.”
Jordan Cox (Peugeot) is the highest ranked of GRM’s fleet entering Round 2, sitting fourth but just 12 points adrift of series leader Josh Buchan (HMO Customer Racing/Hyundai).
Rogers hailed the tightness of the competition, having already seen three different winners from as many races – namely Jay Hanson, Cox, and Zac Soutar.
“It’s great, there’s some household names up there but there’s also some young up-and-comers that are up there competing with the more experienced types,” said Rogers, who is the largest shareholder in the Australian Racing Group.
“But probably even more positive is the number of different brands, the mixture of brands up the front, and no particular brand is dominating.
“Obviously the BoP [Balance of Performance] plays a big part in that, which is good.
“It’s all about entertainment and at the end of the day, there’s always going to be a worthy winner. Certainly the BoP brings the field together, but you’re never going to get an unworthy winner.”
Opening practice for Supercheap Auto TCR Australia at Phillip Island gets underway tomorrow at 11:45 (local time/AEDT), with Stan Sport providing live and ad-free coverage of all three races across the Saturday and Sunday.
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