D’Alberto’s Honda tops TCR Australia test at Winton

Wall Racing Honda driver Tony D’Alberto set the pace in the official test and media day for the TCR Australia Series at Winton Raceway.
D’Alberto’s Honda Civic Type R topped the timesheet with a lap of 1:24.1842, just 0.01 seconds ahead of the Hyundai i30 N of Nathan Morcom who was less than a tenth of a second ahead of his teammate and reigning series champion Will Brown.
Rounding out the top ten, who were all covered by less than half a second, were Jordan Cox (Alfa Romeo), John Martin (Honda), Aaron Cameron (Peugeot), privateer rookie Zac Soutar (Honda), Dylan O’Keeffe (Renault), Jay Hansen (Alfa Romeo) and veteran touring car racer Jason Bargwanna (Peugeot).
Fifteen TCR cars took to the circuit for official practice, with other vehicles at the track for media commitments.
“We had a really good day. We got through quite a few things we wanted to try,” said D’Alberto. “The car was much better than when we raced here last year. We’ve made a bit of an improvement with the set up and our philosophy. With the set up, it was nice to be the quickest today. It does mean a lot. Obviously we’re happy about it, but we know there’s a huge amount of work to do.” 
“I definitely ended the season really well last year and we want to come out punching this year,” said Morcom. “My focus is to just improve my driving and really got my head around these cars. I’ve been working on it in the off-season. We’ve done a few tweaks and refined some areas and we’re definitely showing some gains already. We’re looking really strong for the year. “

TCR Australia test day - results
1:24.1842 Tony D'Alberto (Honda Civic Type R)
1:24.1924 Nathan Morcom (Hyundai i30 N)
1:24.2097 Will Brown (Hyundai i30 N)
1:24.4154 Jordan Cox (Alfa Romeo Giulietta)
1:24.4540 John Martin (Honda Civic Type R)
1:24.4655 Aaron Cameron (Peugeot 308)
1:24.5623 Zac Soutar (Honda Civic Type R)
1:24.6795 Dylan O'Keeffe (Renault Mégane RS)
1:24.6800 Jay Hanson (Alfa Romeo Giulietta)
1:24.6975 Jason Bargwanna (Peugeot 308)
1:24.7573 Michael Caruso (Alfa Romeo Giulietta)
1:25.3291 Michael Clemente (Honda Civic Type R)
1:25.9742 James Moffat (Renault Mégane RS)
1:26.5653 Michael King (Hyundai i30 N)
1:27.1933 James Allen (Alfa Romeo Giulietta)

Picture: TCR Australia

A selection of pictures is available HERE