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D’Alberto Bags Pole in Tight Tasmania Qualifying
Tony D’Alberto has earned the Astrontech Pole Award for race one of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series at AWC Race Tasmania, by less than a tenth of a second.
In Qualifying 1 it was Aaron Cameron who set the fastest time, creating an interesting parallel to round one where it was also a GRM driver (Ben Bargwanna) fastest in Q1 before missing out on pole in Q2.
The fight for sixth place, the final transfer spot to Qualifying 2, was hotly contested. Bargwanna looked set to secure the spot and was in pit lane when Clay Richards narrowly eclipsed the Peugeot in his Cupra. In the final laps of the 15-minute session, Ryan Casha found a last-minute improvement to improve above both drivers and take sixth spot in Q1.
Joining Richards, and Bargwanna in missing out on Q2 were Jordan Cox, Tom Oliphant and Dylan O’Keeffe. The Lynk & Co, driven by O’Keeffe, was just 0.4679 seconds away from Cameron at the end of Q1 but was left with 11th on the grid. TCR Challenge drivers Will Harris and Glenn Nirwan will start from 12th and 13th.
In the final shootout for pole, it was a blow for blow battle between Buchan and D’Alberto as the pair traded fastest laps. Eventually it was D’Alberto who emerged with the fastest time, ahead of Buchan and Zac Soutar in third.
Brad Harris was the fastest TCR Challenge driver, set to line up from fourth overall on the grid.
Full results can be found here.
Race one takes place at 3:15pm AEDT.