First test for TCR Australia’s competitors with Kumho tyres

The drivers of TCR Australia had the first opportunity to sample the new Kumho tyres at Symmons Plains, on the eve of the season opener.

HMO Customer Racing’s Bailey Sweeny set the pace at the end of the four-hour session in his Hyundai i30 N with a lap of 55.877, leading last year’s runner-up Will Brown in the MPC Team Audi RS 3 LMS by a mere 0.023s. Behind them were Zac Soutar in the Tufflift Racing Audi (55.999) and three GRM-run Peugeot 308 cars driven by Ben Bargwanna, Aaron Cameron and Jordan Cox.

Reigning title holder Tony D’Alberto was eighth fastest in his Wall Racing Honda Civic Type R.

Long runs were completed as the drivers came to grips with the new control tyres.

The AWC Race Tasmania event goes underway tomorrow with the first Practice session at 12:10pm local time (2:10am CET).

Josh Buchan (HMO Customer Racing, Hyundai Elantra) said: “The new Kumho tyres were excellent. We haven’t really had to adjust the car too much to be honest, we basically bolted the tyres on and away we went. The life of the tyre is very good, it’ll make for good racing as we can push harder for the race’s duration.”

Picture: TCR Australia