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Ehrlacher on Top as the TCR World Tour Arrives at Bathurst
Cyan Racing Lynk & Co’s Yann Ehrlacher has ended his first day at Mount Panorama on top of the timesheets in practice for the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series and Kumho TCR World Tour at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst International.
Despite missing this morning’s first practice session in it’s entirety due to an engine drama, the Frenchman went to the top in this afternoon’s second session on a 2m 14.6698s, besting reigning TCR Australia champion Tony D’Alberto by a one and a half tenths of a second.
However, due to an engine change that was carried out between sessions, Ehrlacher will receive a five-place grid penalty after qualifying tomorrow.
D’Alberto had a strong day in the new Honda Civic he debuted at Sydney, after topping the first session this morning on a 2m 15.9079s, almost seven tenths clear of Uruguay’s Santiago Urrutia for Cyan Racing Lynk & Co.
The morning session was interrupted by a red flag after Jordan Cox after his Schaeffler GRM Peugeot ground to a halt with a driveshaft failure believed to be caused by a kerb strike across the top of the mountain.
Cox’s mechanical drama was the only red flag interruption across the day’s two sessions, as the stars of the TCR World Tour got to grips with the famed 6.213km of Mount Panorama.
In Practice Two, positions three through to six were filled by World Tour drivers, with Nestor Girolami third in his Honda, followed by Urrutia, Frederic Vervisch (Audi), and Ma Qing Hua (Lynk & Co).
The three combatants for the TCR Australia title filled positions nine through eleven outright, with Aaron Cameron heading Bailey Sweeny and Josh Buchan, finishing third, fourth, and fifth among the Australian competitors.
Second in TCR Australia was MPC Team LIQUI MOLY’s Will Brown, who finished seventh outright in the final practice session.
The combined Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series and Kumho TCR World Tour field return to the track for qualifying tomorrow at 12:35pm AEDT, before Race One begins at 4:15pm AEDT.
You can catch all the action live, ad break free, and on demand on Stan Sport.