Hanson wins TCR Race 1, Coulthard fourth

Jay Hanson has his second win of the 2022 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series while Fabian Coulthard finished fourth in the opening encounter of Round 2 at Phillip Island.

Hanson had qualified on pole position and led all but the first of 16 laps in the #9 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi RS 3 LMS on his way to a 1.7162s victory in Race 1.

A pair of Garry Rogers Motorsport Peugeot 308s completed the podium, with Jordan Cox second and Dylan O’Keeffe another 2.4557s back in third, on the Saturday afternoon of the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships meeting.

Coulthard ended up 9.4919s away from victory in the Stan Sport Wall Racing entry, one position ahead of fellow Honda driver Zac Soutar.

There were dramas for several notables, however, with Michael Caruso going from a front row start to 17th after being pushed into the weeds by Liam McAdam, damage for Will Brown and Nathan Morcom, and a DNF for Round 1 winner Josh Buchan.

Caruso’s race had started well, getting away smartly enough to cover Hanson for the run to the first corner, ahead of McAdam (Audi), Cox, and O’Keeffe.

Coulthard, who had a mishap in qualifying when he beached the #24 Honda Civic Type R, emerged ninth from the opening corners but passed team-mate Tony D’Alberto (Honda) for seventh at MG.

Hanson then blazed past Caruso and into the lead as they ran down Gardner Straight at the end of the standing lap, before McAdam latched onto the back of the #10 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce.

The privateer Audi driver put Caruso under big pressure until he dropped a rear wheel into the dirt exiting Stoner Corner on Lap 3, which caused him to squirm and ultimately punt the Ashley Seward Motorsport entry as they arrived at the Turn 4 Hairpin.

By then, Hanson was out to a 2.7s lead, and his margin over the field would be 3.0s at the end of Lap 4 thanks to McAdam serving a drive-through penalty for the aforementioned incident.

As such, Coulthard’s move on Soutar as they rounded the final bend on that same lap gave the TCR newcomer fourth position, behind Hanson, Cox, and O’Keeffe.

Cox then enjoyed a turn of pace and had reduced his deficit to first position to as little as one second by the end of Lap 10, before the tide began to turn again.

Hanson eased to a solid victory, his second ever in Supercheap Auto TCR Australia after also taking out Race 1 of Round 1 of the campaign at Symmons Plains.

Soutar got home in fifth but now leads the series, by a four-point margin over Cox.

Aaron Cameron (Peugeot) finished sixth, from D’Alberto, Lachlan Mineeff (Volkswagen), Michael Clemente (Honda), and Ben Bargwanna (Peugeot).

Caruso ended up last of those on the lead lap in 17th position, with Brown and Morcom the other two finishers.

Brown had to pit during the contest after an early stoush with D’Alberto over eighth position left his #999 Audi with bodywork damage which would damage the left-front tyre.

Morcom had a visit to the pits after experiencing a power steering failure which led to him also hitting Car #999, while Buchan made for two HMO Customer Racing Hyundai drivers with steering damage when he had contact with Clemente.

Race 2, another 16-lapper, starts tomorrow at 13:05 local time/AEDT and can be seen live and ad-free on Stan Sport.

CLICK HERE for event schedule

Results: Race 1

Series points