Expat racer’s silver lining in ‘tough’ debut

The results sheet mightn’t have been much to write home about, but there was reason for Tom Oliphant to be optimistic at the latest TCR Australia Series round.

After making his series debut in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta hatchback at Symmons Plains, the BTCC race winner switched to a new Lynk & Co 03 sedan at Phillip Island.

Shifting into a newer car promised better result, but they were far from forthcoming.

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Oliphant wasn’t classified in the weekend’s opener at Phillip Island after suffering a puncture and shortcut the circuit on his way back to the pits.

In race two he was only eighth and followed that up with ninth in the weekend’s finale.

Josh Buchan bookended the weekend with race one and race three wins in his Hyundai i30 N while Michael Clemente took out race two in his new Cupra Leon.

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Although unhappy with the results, Oliphant took solace in the car’s outright pace which he said was evidenced in race two in which he couldn’t be passed by Buchan.

“First round out with a new car is always challenging, but overall, I’m really pleased with the speed the Lynk & Co showed,” said Oliphant.

“We didn’t get as much running as we’d have liked at the test day, so we were still learning with each session this weekend. 

“The team found a great setup for qualifying, and the car had the pace to be on the front row, I just didn’t quite nail it in the second part of the session.

“The race starts did not help us. The Lynk & Co has a different way of getting off the line compared to the other cars, and we couldn’t quite get it working with the usual method. 

“I think we made it better in race three, but that was tough to determine because we got held up by a stalled car in front.

“Our race pace was incredibly quick, it was just tough to pass. We were one of the only cars that were able to consistently move forward after the opening lap. 

“(Josh) Buchan won two races, but he couldn’t get near us in race two, which says a lot about our car speed.”

Oliphant will chase his first race win when the series moves to Winton Motor Raceway on June 9-11 for the fourth round of the SpeedSeries calendar.

“The Lynk & Co rotates really well and felt very strong on the brakes so that gives me good confidence that we can be quick at the tighter circuits like Winton as well,” Oliphant concluded.

Bailey Sweeny remains on top of the TCR Australia Series standings after two rounds in his Hyundai.

Peugeot pilot Jordan Cox trails Sweeny by 22 points while Cox’s teammate Aaron Cameron holds third.

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