News
Debutant Kody Garland crashes as Will Brown goes fastest in opening practice
Garry Rogers Motorsport Team Valvoline driver Kody Garland has crashed during opening practice causing severe damage to his Renault Megane R.S. TCR ahead of this weekend’s AWC Race Tasmania.
Garland’s incident occurred on the back sweeper at Symmons Plains Raceway and necessitated the session to be stopped for 15-minutes as crews worked to recover the stricken Renault.
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The rookie emerged from the incident ok, though disappointed.
“Not what we wanted at all,” Garland said post-incident.
“I’m devastated for the team; they’ve put on such a great and for something like that to happen it’s not what we want.
“It was just a mistake on my part, I made contact with the wall and was a passenger from there.
“I’m pretty upset with myself on that one.
“It doesn’t look good right now, but we’ll see what we can work out.”
GRM is currently assessing the damage before making a decision on contesting the action at AWC Race Tasmanian this weekend.
The session resumed with Honda Wall Racing’s Tony D’Alberto on top after a limited number of drivers managed to achieve a time.
However, in a closely fought battle at the top it was LIQUI MOLY MPC’s Will Brown on top clocking a 55.7197s time to finish 0.0962s clear of fellow Audi driver and privateer Liam McAdam.
Garland’s Renault teammate James Moffat was third ahead of Jay Hanson in his new latest specification Audi RS3 LMS TCR, while Ashley Seward Motorsport’s Michael Caruso overcame a wiring problem in his Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR to be placed fifth.
Rounding out the top 10 were the lead HMO Customer Racing Hyundai i30N TCR of Nathan Morcom, D’Alberto, rookie Bailey Sweeny in another HMO Customer Racing Hyundai, the Garry Rogers Motorsport Peugeot of Jordan Cox and Team Valvoline GRM’s Aaron Cameron.
On his category debut, Fabian Coulthard finished 13th in the Stan Sport Wall Racing Honda Civic Type R TCR.
Practice 2 will be held at 2:15pm AEDT. Keep up to date on all the action via the TCR Australia website.
RESULTS PRACTICE 1
| Pos | Num | Team/Sponsor | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Split |
| 1 | 999 | MPC Team LIQUI MOLY | William Brown | Audi RS 3 | 0:55.7197 | |
| 2 | 97 | Forza Brakes Motorsport | Liam McAdam | Audi RS 3 | 0:55.8159 | 0:00.0962 |
| 3 | 34 | LMCT+ Racing GRM | James Moffat | Renault Megane RS | 0:55.9411 | 0:00.2214 |
| 4 | 9 | AWC MPC Racing | Jay Hanson | Audi RS 3 | 0:55.9584 | 0:00.2387 |
| 5 | 10 | Ashley Seward Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 0:55.9826 | 0:00.2629 |
| 6 | 11 | HMO Customer Racing | Nathan Morcom | Hyundai i30N | 0:56.0874 | 0:00.3677 |
| 7 | 50 | Honda Wall Racing | Tony D’Alberto | Honda Civic Type R | 0:56.0974 | 0:00.3777 |
| 8 | 130 | HMO Customer Racing | Bailey Sweeny | Hyundai i30N | 0:56.3029 | 0:00.5832 |
| 9 | 33 | Swyftx GRM | Jordan Cox | Renault Megane RS | 0:56.3232 | 0:00.6035 |
| 10 | 18 | Team Valvoline GRM | Aaron Cameron | Peugeot 308 TCR | 0:56.3724 | 0:00.6527 |
| 11 | 110 | Team Soutar Motorsport | Zac Soutar | Honda Civic Type R | 0:56.3968 | 0:00.6771 |
| 12 | 333 | Royal Purple Racing | Brad Shiels | Hyundai i30N | 0:56.4135 | 0:00.6938 |
| 13 | 24 | Stan Sport Wall Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Honda Civic Type R | 0:56.4189 | 0:00.6992 |
| 14 | 30 | HMO Customer Racing | Josh Buchan | Hyundai i30N | 0:56.4288 | 0:00.7091 |
| 15 | 8 | Schaeffler GRM | Dylan O’Keeffe | Peugeot 308 TCR | 0:56.4938 | 0:00.7741 |
| 16 | 71 | Burson Auto Parts Racing | Ben Bargwanna | Peugeot 308 TCR | 0:56.6815 | 0:00.9618 |
| 17 | 14 | Purple Sector | Lachlan Mineeff | Volkswagen Golf GTI | 0:56.8188 | 0:01.0991 |
| 18 | 44 | Melbourne Performance Centre | Eddie Maguire | Volkswagen Golf GTI | 0:57.2394 | 0:01.5197 |
| 19 | 89 | Braydan Willmington M’Sport | Braydan Willmington | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 0:57.9524 | 0:02.2327 |
| 20 | 41 | Valvoline Racing GRM | Kody Garland | Renault Megane RS |