Audi driver Jay Hanson has qualified on pole position for Round 7 of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series in an incident-disrupted morning at Mount Panorama.
Hanson nailed a 2:12.1640s in his #9 Melbourne Performance Centre RS 3 LMS in Qualifying 2 to prevail by 0.4392s, with practice fast man Bailey Sweeny to join him on the front row in the #130 HMO Customer Racing Hyundai i30 N.
Dylan O’Keeffe (Peugeot) was third-fastest, from Nathan Morcom (Hyundai) and Josh Buchan (Hyundai), while series leader Tony D’Alberto is set to start from 12th in the #50 Wall Racing Honda Civic Type R.
However, it was an even worse Saturday morning at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst International for his nearest rival for the title, Jordan Cox.
What is normally a two-part qualifying process essentially became a single, all-in, 15-minute session after what is thought to have been an incident between Cox and Garry Rogers Motorsport team-mate James Moffat at the start of Qualifying 1.
All 19 drivers were still only on their out lap when a red flag was called, with neither Cox nor Moffat progressing to the end of Sector 1 of the Mount Panorama Motor Racing Circuit.
That session was declared and Qualifying 2, which normally sets the top 10 on the grid only, was then taken to by the other 17 drivers, with the #33 Peugeot and #34 Renault not reappearing.
It is thought that there was a collision at Griffins Bend, although the specifics of the clash are not known, with no vision of the incident available at this point in time.
Hanson started Q2 with a 2:13.9174s which was half a second quicker than anyone else at that point, and then set the time which would give him pole on his next lap.
Sweeny got down to a 2:12.6032s and O’Keeffe to a 2:13.3636s, with Morcom setting a personal-best 2:13.3726s and Buchan a 2:13.6139s.
Rounding out the top 10 were Lachlan Mineeff (Audi), Aaron Cameron (Peugeot), Ben Bargwanna (Peugeot), Will Brown (Audi), and Michael Caruso (Alfa Romeo), while D’Alberto finished 1.9313s off the pace in 12th.
Race 1 starts this afternoon at 16:00 local time/AEDT.
All races are live and ad-free on Stan Sport.
Results: Qualifying 2
| Pos | Num | Team/Sponsor | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Split |
| 1 | 9 | AWC MPC Racing | Jay Hanson | Audi RS 3 | 2:12.1640 | |
| 2 | 130 | HMO Customer Racing | Bailey Sweeny | Hyundai i30N | 2:12.6032 | 0:00.4392 |
| 3 | 8 | Schaeffler GRM | Dylan O’Keeffe | Peugeot 308 TCR | 2:13.3636 | 0:01.1996 |
| 4 | 11 | HMO Customer Racing | Nathan Morcom | Hyundai i30N | 2:13.3726 | 0:01.2086 |
| 5 | 30 | HMO Customer Racing | Josh Buchan | Hyundai i30N | 2:13.6139 | 0:01.4499 |
| 6 | 14 | Forza Brakes Motorsport | Lachlan Mineeff | Audi RS 3 | 2:13.6490 | 0:01.4850 |
| 7 | 18 | Team Valvoline GRM | Aaron Cameron | Peugeot 308 TCR | 2:13.8183 | 0:01.6543 |
| 8 | 71 | Burson Auto Parts Racing | Ben Bargwanna | Peugeot 308 TCR | 2:13.8375 | 0:01.6735 |
| 9 | 999 | MPC Team LIQUI MOLY | William Brown | Audi RS 3 | 2:13.9635 | 0:01.7995 |
| 10 | 10 | Ashley Seward Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 2:14.0296 | 0:01.8656 |
| 11 | 2 | MOUTAI /Zip Pay | Luke King | Hyundai i30N | 2:14.0532 | 0:01.8892 |
| 12 | 50 | Honda Wall Racing | Tony D’Alberto | Honda Civic Type R | 2:14.0953 | 0:01.9313 |
| 13 | 41 | Valvoline Racing GRM | Kody Garland | Renault Megane RS | 2:14.1284 | 0:01.9644 |
| 14 | 20 | Peugeot Sport GRM | Teddy Clairet | Peugeot 308 | 2:14.3109 | 0:02.1469 |
| 15 | 15 | Michael Clemente Motorsport | Michael Clemente | Audi RS 3 | 2:14.7008 | 0:02.5368 |
| 16 | 110 | Team Soutar Motorsport | Zac Soutar | Honda Civic Type R | 2:14.9947 | 0:02.8307 |
| 17 | 22 | Melbourne Performance Centre | Iain McDougall | Audi RS 3 | 2:15.0274 | 0:02.8634 |
Results: Qualifying 1
Session declared non event
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