Bathurst TCR crash forces car switch

Jay Hanson has been forced into a spare Audi chassis after crashing his regular car during TCR Australia practice at Mount Panorama. 

The teenager crunched his latest-spec Audi into the wall on the run to The Cutting on his out-lap in practice. 

The wrecked car was inspected following the session, with the Melbourne Performance Centre crew deciding it can't be fixed this weekend, particularly with today being Good Friday.

As a result Hanson will jump into the team's spare Audi, last raced by Luke King last season, for the remainder of the Bathurst 6 Hour weekend.

“If it wasn’t Easter and there was a panel shop open in town, we could probably try to get the rails pulled back across and fix it, but being Easter Friday, finding a panel shop is really not going to happen,” said MPC boss Troy Russell.

“Fortunately, the boys had [the spare] ready so it’s just roll it out of the truck, put some stickers on it, the right number, put his seat insert in, swap some tyres on the rims, and we’re ready to go.

“We’ll make the next practice no problem.

“We made the call to just can it, move into the other car and we’ll fix it when we get home. It’s just right-front chassis rail damage unfortunately, but other than that it’s not too bad.

“We’ll fix it.”

Hanson was mystified by the incident. 

It’s Lap 1, Practice 1, we’re still getting tyre temp driving around we come into Turn 3 there, the rear came around on me and that’s all it takes throughout this place, isn’t it?” he said.

“It’s very unfortunate. We’re trying to get as many laps as we can and to learn the new car, and unfortunately, we think the damage is definitely repairable but it’s going to take some time.

“It’s a big learning curve now, stepping into the other Audi. I’m very fortunate for the guys at MPC who are working very hard and to have this spare car here, not many teams can say they have a one that you can get into after a mistake like that.

“Unfortunate for Troy and everyone there but we’re going to get back out there, which is the main thing. Obviously, we’re going to be on the back foot now, we’re just going to cruise around and see what we can do, but it’s very unfortunate and definitely not the way you want to start the weekend." 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.motorsport.com/tcr-australia/news/bathurst-tcr-crash-car-switch/9911301/amp/