Tasmania TCR: Hanson dominates opener

The Melbourne Performance Audi driver set up his first TCR win at the very start when he jumped pole-sitter Nathan Morcom to grab the lead.

He them stormed away from HMO Hyundai pair Josh Buchan and Morcom with relentless pace, which included lowering the TCR lap record.

His final margin was 5.2 seconds as he became the 16th TCR Australia race winner and celebrated the first victory down under for the latest-spec Audi.

"I can't thank the team enough," he said.

"They got the [new] car so late, so a huge shout out to Audi Sport Europe and also of the guys at MPC; they put in a huge effort to get this car ready.

"To be at the front is really cool. It was a clean race from start to finish. It was absolutely awesome."

Buchan got the better of teammate Morcom to grab second as the Hyundais rounded out the podium.

James Moffat put in a charging drive in the early stages to set up fourth place in his Garry Rogers Motorsport Renault.

Aaron Cameron (GRM Peugeot) was another hard-charger, making up three spots on the opening lap alone to slot into sixth.

He then charged down the inside of former series champion Will Brown (MPC Audi) at the hairpin on Lap 3 to take a fifth place he would hold to the finish.

Zac Soutar was the best-placed Honda in his Team Soutar Motorsport entry in sixth ahead of Brown and Wall Honda driver Tony D'Alberto.

The battle for 10th, which becomes pole for Race 2 tomorrow, was one of the highlights of the race, with Brad Sheils (Tilton Racing Hyundai) taking on big names Fabian Coulthard (Wall Honda) and Michael Caruso (ASM Alfa).

Coulthard did sneak past Sheils briefly mid-race, but his Hyundai rival got back through and held on to the prized 10th spot.

That left Coulthard in 11th for his TCR debut, with Caruso settling for 12th after an impressive drive from the back of the grid.

There was action for Jordan Cox even before the race started, the GRM Peugeot driver going off track and tagging the wall while trying to warm his tyres on his way to the grid.

That forced him into the lane for his car to be checked, Cox starting from pitlane and finishing 16th.

The action continues tomorrow with two races at 2:25pm and 4:20pm respectively.

Watch all of the TCR Australia action from Symmons Plains live on Motorsport.tv.