HMO Customer Racing will field the car in Round 4 of the Oztrack SuperTT Championship at SMP on Sunday.
SuperTT has become the home for TCR machinery in Australia after plans for a South Australian-based revival were ultimately abandoned.
The two-time TCR Australia champion was invited by HMO owner Barry Morcom to drive the car at Sydney, reuniting the highly successful partnership.
“The team, they’re obviously competing in Mustang Cup, so they’re still busy, but we had a lot of good times, a lot of good memories in TCR,” Buchan told Speedcafe.
“Particularly last year, having such good success in the world championship, but when there was an opportunity to get the car out, Barry’s always keen and the team loved running it.
“Even just this morning, shaking it down, it was great to slap five with the crew and get back to what we were doing, I guess getting our HMO band back together.
“This car that I’m racing on the weekend is actually my car that I won the 2023 and ‘24 Aus titles in and Ryan [MacMillan], my teammate last year, used it in the World Tour.
“There isn’t really much we’ve done to it, it’s basically how it rolled off the track at Macau last year.”
SuperTT offers competitors a cost-effective solution to keep TCR cars on the race track, allowing drivers to experience cars that are still raced around the world.
“SuperTT has seen a bit of an influx of TCR cars,” Buchan added.
“Obviously, they’re not being used how they’re intended, so SuperTT is a category where you can sort of run anything you like, really.
“For the money of a TCR car, people forget they are incredibly quick and particularly when you unrestrict them.
“[TCR] gives people an option to buy a factory-built race car for an affordable price, instead of going and building something for two or three hundred grand that breaks half the time.
“TCR cars are incredibly reliable, built for 24-hour races, so 30 minutes on Sunday shouldn’t be a drama.”
Buchan detailed the ongoing relevance of TCR outside of Australia, having raced in World Tour events last year, and at Daytona in IMSA competition.
“TCR overseas still has a massive presence,” Buchan said.
“I was only in Belgium last week and there were heaps of TCR cars over there racing.
“If you don’t quite have crazy money to go and race GT, which not many people do, it’s still a great option to get a car out for a reasonable price and compete in something.
“If one day you say ‘I want to go and do Spa or Nurburgring or something’, you can go and drive the same car.”
Since TCR Australia’s downfall, Buchan has pivoted towards GT racing.
This year, he has competed alongside Cameron Campbell in a Ferrari 296 GT3 in GT World Challenge Australia and the British GT Championship for Zagame Autosport and Rodin Motorsport respectively.
Buchan maintains that the door is still open in his career to compete in TCR racing globally.
“I’ve had conversations all year with Hyundai and I’ve had other teams reach out to put me into a TCR car for World Tour, but it hasn’t worked out with timing in the calendar,” Buchan said.
“I feel like at the end of that tenure, I became as good as anyone in the cars, and the opportunity to win a fully fledged FIA world championship I think it is something that in Australia we don’t appreciate as much as what they do in Europe.
“I still have aspirations to do that, whether or not it happens, I’m unsure. GT is where I am at the moment. I’m super busy with that and I’m lucky that I’ve been able to continue my career.
“I’ve got a fantastic teammate, I run with two great teams, I’ve got no complaints at all, but if something came along in TCR World Tour that was good, it would be an easy decision.”
Round 4 of SuperTT will be held at Sydney Motorsport Park on July 5.
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