Tom Oliphant forced to revert to Alfa Romeo for Winton

Tom Oliphant will switch back into Ash Seward Motorsport’s Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR for the latest round of the TCR Australia season this weekend at Winton after the team his supply issues with parts for its new Lynk & Co 03 TCR.

The team debuted the ex-Cyan Racing car at Phillip Island last time out but has been waiting on some replacement parts to arrive from overseas ahead of the meeting after running into issues during a recent test.

With those parts having yet to arrive, Oliphant will switch back into the Alfa Romeo he raced in the opening weekend of the campaign at Symmons Plains, with the Lynk & Co set to return at Queensland in August.

“It’s obviously not an ideal situation as we have made really strong progress with the car during testing since the previous race and we were all keen to implement that at Winton,” team boss Ash Seward said.

“But we fully understand the challenges of the logistics, especially in the current situation of global supply chains. We are thankful for the support we have received from Geely Group Motorsport in the current situation where we together have exhausted all options. We will continue to push forward this weekend look forward to returning with the Lynk & Co for the next round.”

Geely Group Motorsport Customer Sport Director Ron Hartvelt added that the company had pulled out all the stops to try and ensure that the parts were able to arrive in Australia in time.

“We want to extend a big thank you to Ashley Seward Motorsport for their understanding and efforts regarding the current situation,” he said.

“We have together investigated all possibilities to get the necessary parts to Australia in time, but it is unfortunately not possible due to unforeseen delays in the delivery process. We wish them the best of luck this weekend and look forward to be back on track with them at Queensland Raceway.”