Garth Tander claims surprise pole at Albert Park
Garth Tander made the most of his experience around the Albert Park street circuit and claimed pole position for Race 1 of the TCR Asia Pacific Cup, support race in the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix weekend.
In the morning Free Practice sessions that were dominated by the Hyundai i30 N cars of TCR Australia reigning champion Will Brown and Nathan Morcom, Tander and his Audi RS 3 LMS had set only the 12th fastest lap, 2.4 seconds behind Brown.
In the first half of the 20-minute Qualifying, Brown and Morcom seemed set to encore their performance. Brown set a provisional fastest lap of 2:05.4889, but was soon ousted by his teammate who improved first to 2:05.2168 and then to 2:05.0242. Brown improved again to 2:05.3658 to keep second.
However, in the session’s dying moments, Tander and Michael Caruso in the GRM Alfa Romeo managed to break the 2:05 wall, setting laps of 2:04.833 and 2:04.8625. And on his last lap Tander went even half-a-second faster in 2:04.3614; Brown improved once more to 2:05.0834, but remained in fourth position, while James Moffat and his Renault Mégane RS advanced to fifth ahead of the two Peugeot 308 cars of Aaron Cameron and TCR Europe vice champion Julien Briché.
The best of the Honda Civic cars was Zak Soutar’s (11th), while Chelsea Angelo (17th) was the fastest of the Volkswagen Golf GTI drivers.
The first race will start Friday at 9:40 local time (23:40 CET).
Qualifying
2:04.3614 Garth Tander (Melbourne Performance Centre, Audi RS 3 LMS)
2:04.8625 Michael Caruso (Team Valvoline GRM, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce)
2:05.0242 Nathan Morcom (HMO Customer Racing, Hyundai i30 N)
2:05.0834 Will Brown (HMO Customer Racing, Hyundai i30 N)
2:05.4133 James Moffat (Renault Sport GRM, Renault Mégane RS)
Picture: TCR Australia
