Hyundai rookie Bailey Sweeny has become the sixth different race winner of the 2022 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series, charging to victory in Race 2 at Mount Panorama.
Having started on the front-row in the reverse top 10 grid race, Sweeny took the chequered flag with a 11.4742s buffer – but he didn’t exactly have it handed to him on a platter in the early going.
Michael Caruso got his elbows out to keep the lead on the first run through Hell Corner, contact dropping Sweeny to third behind Tony D’Alberto.
He lost a further spot to James Moffat before rebounding to second amid a chaotic opening lap.
By the end of Lap 2, he was into the lead and soon began stretching his legs.
The focus quickly turned to the battle packs behind, with Moffat hanging onto second as Josh Buchan nabbed third from Caruso on the final lap.
Dylan O’Keeffe was the lead Peugeot in fifth, while D’Alberto could only bring it home sixth with his Honda struggling with an apparent straight-line speed deficit.
He did however extend his points lead, with nearest rivals Will Brown, Zac Soutar, and Jordan Cox finishing 10th, 13th, and 11th respectively.
Race 1 winner Aaron Cameron had an eventful run to ninth, having had incidents with Buchan and Cox along the way.
Even after being pushed wide at Murray’s Corner, Cox made up 10 places having started last following a Race 1 DNF.
Tim Slade was the only non-finisher in Race 2, retiring at the end of the opening lap with a brake problem.
Determined by points accumulated across Races 1 and 2, Moffat will start on pole for the third and final TCR race of the weekend from 10:10 AEST tomorrow.
Results: Race 2
Position | Number | Team | Driver | Vehicle | Gap |
1 | 130 | HMO Customer Racing | Bailey Sweeny | Hyundai i30N TCR | |
2 | 34 | LMCT+ Racing GRM | James Moffat | Renault Megane R.S. TCR | +11.4742 |
3 | 30 | HMO Customer Racing | Josh Buchan | Hyundai i30N TCR | +11.8067 |
4 | 10 | Ashley Seward Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR | +12.7790 |
5 | 8 | Schaeffler GRM | Dylan O’Keeffe | Peugeot 308 TCR | +13.2997 |
6 | 50 | Honda Wall Racing | Tony D’Alberto | Honda Civic Type R TCR | +14.0406 |
7 | 71 | Burson Auto Parts Racing | Ben Bargwanna | Peugeot 308 TCR | +14.7028 |
8 | 333 | Royal Purple Racing | Brad Shiels | Hyundai i30N TCR | +16.7201 |
9 | 18 | Team Valvoline GRM | Aaron Cameron | Peugeot 308 TCR | +17.2260 |
10 | 999 | MPC Team LIQUI MOLY | Will Brown | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | +17.8985 |
11 | 33 | Swyftx GRM | Jordan Cox | Peugeot 308 TCR | +18.1890 |
12 | 2 | DashSport | Luke King | Hyundai i30 N TCR | +18.9966 |
13 | 110 | Team Soutar Motorsport | Zac Soutar | Honda Civic Type R TCR | +19.5623 |
14 | 15 | Michael Clemente Motorsport | Michael Clemente | Honda Civic Type R TCR | +20.3227 |
15 | 9 | AWC MPC Racing | Jay Hanson | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | +20.5670 |
16 | 41 | Valvoline Racing GRM | Kody Garland | Renault Megane R.S. TCR | +21.8605 |
17 | 14 | Purple Sector | Lachlan Mineeff | Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR | +22.2721 |
18 | 89 | Braydan Willmington Motorsports | Braydan Willmington | Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR | +31.5875 |
19 | 22 | Melbourne Performance Centre | Iain McDougall | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | +55.9080 |
20 | 11 | HMO Customer Racing | Nathan Morcom | Hyundai i30N TCR | +59.6610 |
DNF | 24 | Stan Sport Wall Racing | Tim Slade | Honda Civic Type R TCR |