Hanson wins reverse top 10 TCR race

Jay Hanson has bounced back from a rough run of form to return to the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia winners’ circle at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Hanson started from pole in the reverse top 10 race by virtue of finishing 10th in last night’s race, and never gave up top spot during the 16 laps this morning.

Fellow front-row starter Brad Shiels fell into the clutches of Tony D’Alberto and Luke King off the line as fierce battles broke out up and down the field on the opening lap.

Most spectacularly, Dylan O’Keeffe’s efforts to defend against Jordan Cox on the front straight saw nose-to-tail contact near the inside wall on pit straight.

They were lucky to escape with no more than a wobble, while further ahead King mowed down D’Alberto to take second.

King would hold position from there to clinch his first podium of the season, having missed the opening couple of rounds.

He wasn’t able to ever really mount a serious challenge against Hanson though, with 1.8301s the final victory margin.

For Hanson, it’s his third TCR win in 2022, and comes after a heavy crash at Bathurst and another incident in qualifying yesterday.

Nathan Morcom rounded out the podium while D’Alberto hung on for fourth despite dropping almost 10 seconds off the lead trio.

Cox, Shiels, James Moffat, O’Keeffe, Zac Soutar and Will Brown rounded out the top 10.

It was a particularly fine comeback drive from Brown, who had started 21st and last after a costly DNF last night due to broken suspension.

Race 1 winner Josh Buchan limped his way to 12th after also being passed by Fabian Coulthard, while Aaron Cameron never recovered from a shocking getaway and was just 15th at the flag.

Ben Bargwanna’s dire weekend continued, a turbo hose issue forcing him three laps down, while neither Iain McDougall nor Kody Garland made it to the finish.

Cox and King are due to share the front row in Race 3, starting at 16:10 AEST.

Results: Race 2