Promising debut for Alice Buckley in Dunlop Super 2 Series
- MIKA BÖCKER
- Feb 26
- 3 min read
Young Australian Alice Buckley ventured into the elite touring car environment of Dunlop Super 2 Series with a promising debut at Sydney Motorsports Park, where she moved forward in race 1, collecting crucial experience.
Alice Buckley's career has seen a quick progression from grassroots karting to professional racing. Her appearances in Toyota's one-make were particularly impressive and the step up to the Dunlop Super 2 Series has been a natural yet significant milestone for the young Australian, as she ventures into the elite touring car environment under the prestigious Repco Supercars Championship umbrella.
The opening practice sessions for the 2026 curtain raiser were a mixed bag for most of the drivers. The weather on the short Sydney Motorsports Park circuit wasn't as stable as anticipated, and while without any incidents, many drivers made some mistakes. Rookie Alice Buckley however stood out as she soon demonstrated confidence in all sessions and maintained a strong pace right from the start. In the second practice session, she managed to stay at the front for an extended period before the more seasoned drivers began to edge her out of the top positions.
Buckley's performance in qualifying continued to showcased her potential for improvement. As each lap went by, she steadily climbed through the field, with small but consistent gains in position. While facing challenges from more experienced racers who eventually outpaced her, Alice ultimately secured a respectable 15th-place, validating her growing confidence on the track.
The Australian got off to a very good start in the first race. She made a good initial move and secured 14th place in the first few corners by overtaking Tommy Smith. This was an important achievement, as overtaking on this tight circuit has proven particularly difficult. However, she couldn't hold onto the position in the melee of the first lap and Smith managed to fight back by the end of the first lap.
Buckley then lost some of her rhythm and a second to him; the gap however remained constant through the following laps. The same was true for the gap to Chada behind her: depending on the sector, he was half a second to a second behind, aiming to capitalize on potential mistakes, but eventually not close enough to overtake.
For the first 20 minutes, these gaps were virtually frozen. Buckley managed to get her Holden close to Smith, only to have to defend against Chada on the next lap.
Last year, she had claimed victory at the same circuit, so the team had been correspondingly optimistic. After 23 minutes, she was clearly living up to these expectations: in the first sector, she went for a better line than Smith and managed to overtake him, in yet another impressive maneuver on this track. While she couldn't pull away significantly, Buckley did manage to build a stable gap to the chasing pack.
Just two laps later, Smith went off the track, gifting Hall an opportunity. At this point in the race, Hall pulled off a great recovery and caught up to Buckley, with the rookie defending her position for a long time.
Shortly before the end of the race, however, he found his way past, pushing Buckley back to 15th position, which was also her target position to complete a successful first race in the series.
The second race proved more challenging for Buckley as she navigated through the congested streets, initially dropping from 17th to 19th place due to unfavorable positioning. However, a fortunate turn of events occurred when Thomsen's minor incident allowed Buckley to recover her position and reclaim the 17th spot, only to find herself once again hindered by Smith's defensive driving.
With 28 minutes of race time remaining, however, any hopes of gaining further positions had vanished when in turn two, her pursuer attempted an aggressive overtake. In doing so, he made contact with her and pushed her into the car ahead - which spun and made further contact with Buckley's car. The collision caused steering damages on Buckley's Holden, effectively ending her race in the gravel trap at Turn 3.
Buckley's impressive performance at her debut race however showcased her potential despite some setbacks at the challenging Sydney Motorsport Park. With an encouraging start, Buckley will now focus on building momentum in the coming rounds.
