TCR Civic switch for D’Alberto and Martin at The Bend

Wall Racing has confirmed that drivers John Martin and Tony D’Alberto will run different chassis for Round 3 of the TCR Australia Series at The Bend Motorsport Park.

The Sydney-based team has made the call having been unable to complete the repair of Martin’s Civic Type R which sustained heavy damage in a multiple car crash on the opening lap of Race 3 at Phillip Island.

A delay in the arrival of a component to complete the repair has prompted a car switch which also coincides with the squad having recently taken delivery of two new Civic Type R machines.

D’Alberto will take command of one of the two cars which will see Martin take over the chassis raced by his team-mate in the opening two rounds at Sydney Motorsport Park and Phillip Island.

Meanwhile, new recruit Jordan Cox will run the second new chassis for his one-off drive at The Bend next weekend.

“It has been a big job, but we elected to make it a big job to ensure that we did it properly,” said team owner David Wall.

“We could have got John to the event in his car, but the fix wouldn’t have been to our desire. We wanted to make sure it was perfect, so we elected to switch chassis.

“There’s no harm for John. Tony has proven that his car is competitive, so we feel that we’ll have three very fast cars for The Bend.

“It’s good that we have the ability to shake the cars down too. That will allow us the chance to iron out any bugs and hit the ground running.”

TCR Australia Round 3 will be held from July 12-14 with all three races broadcast live on SBS and via the Shannons Nationals live stream carried by Speedcafe.com.