Brad Shiels works way up into top 10 at TCR Australia round two after qualifying last

The Royal Purple Racing Team driver and the rest of the field had to compete with a new tyre compound for the second round of the 2022 series, and it took a while for Shiels to find an optimal setup in his Hyundai i30N.

His qualifying time of 1:37.9866 had him at the rear of the 21-car grid but from there things began to improve for the Bathurst competitor.

He jumped up seven spots to 14^th in race one and then continued to improve the following day in race two with a 10^th placing.

While he dropped back down to 12^th for Sunday's final event Shiels could still take positives away from a weekend of challenges.

The tyre compound proved a handful for the team during qualifying and Shiels said it left the team with plenty of work to do across the round.

"It started off pretty bad in qualifying. The category switched to a new tyre construction for that weekend and we hadn't had a chance to test it at all," he said.

"A lot of other teams had tested it and we went there not really knowing what to expect. We put the new tyre on and our car setup didn't suit at all. We qualified dead last, which was a bit frustrating, so we were on the back foot all weekend.

"We made it up to 10^th in the second race so we turned the car around a fair bit but it makes it hard when you're not up there from the start."

Shiels said the team did an admirable job to find the right adjustments with the car's setup to help propel him inside the top 10.

"The sidewall of the tyre was a lot stiffer on this one so we needed to change spring rakes, sway bars and cambers and find out what pressure worked best in the tyre. It was a major change from what we usually have with our setup," he said.

"I'd say we're about 70 per cent of the way there towards getting the ideal setup. We've got Bathurst coming up for our next round and it's great that we've just about figured it out. We've gone well at Bathurst the last couple of times so hopefully we'll be a bit more competitive at that one."

Through two rounds of the competition Shiels now sits in 12^th place on 150 points.

A battle of two is currently brewing at the top of the standings between Tony D'Alberto (224) and Jordan Cox (222).

Mount Panorama will be the next round for the series over April 15 to 17.

"The series is getting more and more competitive every year," Shiels said.

"Everyone's still moving forward with the cars because they're relatively new and everyone's still finding their feet. You can see a lot of progress being made.

"When you're making progress everyone else seems to be as well."

Teams will also make a second trip to Mount Panorama in November to round out the series.

Next on the agenda for Shiels will be the 2022 World Time Attack Challenge at Sydney Motorsport Park over April 1 and 2.

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