Oliphant Mounts TCR Podium Challenge In Sydney

Tom Oliphant was unlucky not to come away with silverware after showing great pace around Sydney Motorsport Park in the penultimate round of the 2024 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series season this past weekend (18-20 October).

Following a lengthy 11-week break since the previous round in Queensland, in which he starred with his first TCR Australia pole position, Oliphant returned to action ready to mount a front-running challenge in his Hyundai i30 N TCR prepared by reigning champions HMO Customer Racing.

The British racer was straight on the front-running pace around the 2.43-mile Sydney circuit, finishing third fastest overall in free practice on used tyres. A rise in temperatures for Saturday caught them out in qualifying though as he finished up fifth fastest, albeit just a tenth of a second shy of third.

Maintaining fifth off the start in race one that afternoon, Oliphant almost pulled off an opportunistic move for fourth on lap three. Next time round the place was his though, with a brilliant dive down the inside into turn two netting him the position from former champion Tony D’Alberto.

The leading pack were closely-matched from there, leading to them running in formation through to the chequered flag. With a fourth-place finish under his belt and an upturn in pace from his Hyundai, Oliphant headed into Sunday confident of fighting for more strong results.

Cooler temperatures in the morning filled him with optimism for race two and he sat seventh during an early safety car period following a frenetic opening lap. When action restarted, he made immediate progress to grab fifth position and he had a podium challenge in his sights.

As the two cars ahead battled it out, the two-time TCR Australia race-winner spotted a chance of a double move into turn two. Unfortunately he misjudged his braking though, resulting in contact with another car that immediately ended his race with damage.

Frustrated with how that race ended, Oliphant bounced back well in the finale. A brilliant opening lap charge saw him gain three places to settle into sixth overall, before a faultless drive resulted in late progress to a fifth-place finish to sign off the weekend.

Tom Oliphant: “It’s been a frustrating weekend. We had good pace in the car but just didn’t quite execute things the way we could have done and that meant we ultimately didn’t come away with the results that we had the potential for.

“The temperature affected us a lot this weekend. Our car was at its strongest in the cooler temperatures in practice and race two, but when it heated up we struggled with grip from the tyres and it mean progress was very tough in races one and three.

“I definitely had the pace to get a podium and potentially challenge for the win in race two, but I hold my hands up, that was my mistake. It’s a shame, but we’ll move on and having had probably the third or fourth fastest car over the weekend, I’m confident we can end the year well at Bathurst.”

The 2024 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series season comes to a close in three weeks’ time (08-10 November) with a trip to the legendary Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales.

Images from HMO Customer Racing.