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A pair of last-ditch flying laps have confirmed Jordan Cox’s early upper hand at the TCR Bathurst 400.
The #5 Alfa Romeo driver finished both Supercheap Auto TCR Australia practice sessions today well clear of the field.
In Practice 1 this morning, Cox was quickest on a 2:17.1491s – a benchmark which no other driver got within 1.3s of.
Come Practice 2, Cox left it late to make a charge on the timesheets, having been rooted to the bottom of the timesheets without a representative lap time until the dying minutes.
That’s when he sprung to life, posting a 2:15.4306s on what would be his penultimate timed effort, smashing the TCR practice/qualifying lap record from the Bathurst 6 Hour event earlier this year by almost four tenths.
He would be even quicker the next time around, improving to a 2:15.2422s with the chequered flag out.
In a quirk, even the new practice/qualifying lap record remains slower than the TCR race lap record at Bathurst; a 2:14.8162s set by Chaz Mostert during Race 1 of the Easter event.
Series leader Mostert was a non-starter in Practice 2 after crashing this morning.
German ace Chris Mies also missed the entire day of running as he completes a 72-hour quarantine period in line with new regulations for international arrivals triggered by the recent emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The other key late improver of Practice 2 was Michael Caruso, recording a 2:16.0505s to leapfrog Ben Bargwanna, who had held sway for the bulk of the second half-hour session.
Every driver down to James Moffat in eighth set a faster Practice 2 time than Cox’s Practice 1 pace-setter, with Jay Hanson, Dylan O’Keeffe, Aaron Cameron, and Luke King filling fourth through seventh.
King holds the status of being the nearest title threat to Melbourne Performance Centre Audi team-mate Mostert, albeit 106 points adrift.
The Supercheap Auto TCR Australia field will be back on-track tomorrow morning for a two-part qualifying session, starting at 09:30 local time/AEDT.
Results: Combined practice, Supercheap Auto TCR Australia
Pos | Num | Driver | Car | Time | Diff |
1 | 5 | Jordan Cox | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 02:15.2422 | |
2 | 150 | Michael Caruso | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 02:16.0505 | +0.8083 |
3 | 71 | Ben Bargwanna | Peugeot 308 TCR | 02:16.1430 | +0.9008 |
4 | 9 | Jay Hanson | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 02:16.3593 | +1.1171 |
5 | 33 | Dylan O’Keeffe | Renault Megane RS | 02:16.3832 | +1.1410 |
6 | 155 | Aaron Cameron | Peugeot 308 TCR | 02:16.5388 | +1.2966 |
7 | 2 | Luke King | Audi RS 3 | 02:16.5809 | +1.3387 |
8 | 34 | James Moffat | Renault Megane RS | 02:16.6864 | +1.4442 |
9 | 333 | Bradley Shiels | Hyundai i30N | 02:17.3035 | +2.0613 |
10 | 24 | John Martin | Honda Civic Type R | 02:17.4103 | +2.1681 |
11 | 17 | Jason Bargwanna | Peugeot 308 TCR | 02:17.7284 | +2.4862 |
12 | 11 | Nathan Morcom | Hyundai i30N | 02:18.0204 | +2.7782 |
13 | 30 | Josh Buchan | Hyundai i30N | 02:19.0081 | +3.7659 |
14 | 14 | Lachlan Mineeff | Volkswagen Golf GTI | 02:19.0609 | +3.8187 |
15 | 110 | Zac Soutar | Honda Civic Type R | 02:19.1113 | +3.8691 |
16 | 25 | Chaz Mostert | Audi RS 3 | 04:39.3446 | +2:24.1024 |