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Sweeny Breaks Hyundai’s Sandown Drought
Championship leader Bailey Sweeny has claimed Hyundai’s first ever win at Sandown following a composed drive in Race Two of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series.
Sweeny’s five-second post-race penalty following Race One proved to be a blessing in disguise, promoting him to the front row of the reverse top ten grid, and allowing him to cruise at the front as he has done so often this season.
In similar scenes to Race One, the front row of Tom Oliphant and Sweeny didn’t make the best of starts as Jordan Cox stormed to the lead from third on the grid with a sensational getaway.
However Cox then appeared to lock up into turn one, with Oliphant tagging the rear of the Schaeffler GRM Peugeot as a result and forcing Cox wide, and Josh Buchan even wider in the Hyundai i30N Sedan as the championship contender took evasive action.
That allowed the British Touring Car Championship race winner back into the lead, however we would soon plummet back through the field as the Autoglym / Ashley Seward Motorsport Lynk & Co struggled with a lack of straight line speed.
Championship leader Sweeny made his way by the Lynk & Co at turn six on the second lap with a brave move, and began to slowly eek out a margin on the chasing pack over the balance of the twenty-one lap distance.
Aaron Cameron went by at the same place on the following lap, with Lachlan Mineeff making an audacious move soon after at turn nine as Oliphant’s straight line deficit became more apparent.
Further behind, Clay Richards’ difficult weekend continued as he pinched an inside front at turn nine and skated off into the gravel, but the third generation driver was able to return to the track without the need for a Safety Car.
Another driver to have a wild moment was Zac Soutar, who went wide at the high-speed turn six after being squeezed onto the grass by Race One winner Tony D’Alberto.
The other 2021-spec Audi of Will Brown also took to the grass on the entry to turn six, this time with a much more successful outcome as he made his way by Jordan Cox on lap nine to move into fourth position.
Brown’s onboard camera showed the passenger side of the front windscreen smeared with oil, a hint of what would lead to the Supercars star’s demise four laps later, with the front of the MPC Team LIQUI MOLY Audi covered with a significant amount of oil.
Iain McDougall was another driver to find trouble at turn nine, skating off into the gravel in a similar fashion to Richards in the latter stages of the race, though once again the Safety Car wasn’t required.
Sweeny was nearly two and a half seconds clear of Aaron Cameron’s Peugeot at the chequered flag, with Lachlan Mineeff rounding out the podium to continue his impressive weekend in the older 2017-spec Audi.
Jordan Cox finished fourth, though was on the verge of receiving a track limits penalty, with Sweeny’s chief championship rival and HMO Customer Racing teammate Josh Buchan rounding out the top five in his Hyundai i30N Sedan.
The third and final race of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series begins at 4:15pm this afternoon.
You can catch all the action live, ad-break free, and on demand on Stan Sport.