FPR's new cars set fastest times at practice .....

Teams change tact at test day
Release date: 09/03/2009


The seven Victorian V8 Supercars teams all took different approaches to the first official test day for 2009 at Winton Raceway today (Monday).

After a slight setback at a recent shakedown for the new FG Falcons, Ford Performance Racing drivers Steve Richards and Mark Winterbottom set the pace for most of the afternoon.

Will Davison, who this morning took his first ever drive in the Holden Racing Team VE Commodore, spent the morning getting used to the change from a Ford to a Holden.

And Sprint Gas Racing did not even turn on its timing monitors, instead deciding to focus on getting the cars to their maximum potential.

Both Holden Racing Team and Sprint Gas Racing will return to the track tomorrow for back-to-back test days.

Holden fans greatly outnumbered their Ford rivals at the open-to-the-public test day, largely due to there being only one Victorian Ford team compared to the six Holden teams of Walkinshaw Performance, Garry Rogers Motorsport, Kelly Racing, Brad Jones Racing, Sprint Gas Racing and Rod Nash Racing.

But as the sole Victorian Blue Oval team, Ford Performance Racing kept the Ford faithful happy, with drivers Steve Richards (1min 24.3410sec) and Mark Winterbottom (1min 24.4560sec) holding the top two quickest times as of 4.15pm AEDST.

Turn five at the country Victorian track proved a bit of a handful with many drivers sliding on to the infield.

A handful of Fujitsu Series drivers also attended the test day, including Marcus Zukanovic, who injured his right leg in a crash during the morning near turn 11.

Garry Rogers Motorsport drivers Lee Holdsworth and Michael Caruso were consistently quick throughout the day along with 2007 V8 Supercar Champion Garth Tander from Holden Racing Team.

Ford Performance Racing (FPR) may be the only Victorian V8 Supercar team, but it blew its Holden rivals out of the water at Winton Raceway yesterday.

Last year’s Championship runner-up, Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom posted the fastest official lap time of 1min 24.1057 while teammate Steve Richards posted a time only two-10ths slower (1min 24.3410) for the fourth quickest official time of the day.

But FPR says its drivers posted even quicker times; however, the laps were done when Winton’s timing system crashed.

FPR said the quickest, but unofficial lap, for Frosty was actually 1min 23.74sec and Richo’s was 1min 23.88sec.

Winterbottom’s official lap time was four-10ths slower than the lap set by Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander (1min 23.6048) at last year’s Winton test day.

The quick laps were a far cry from a shakedown of the new FG Falcons at Winton last week, when Richards’ car could not complete the maximum 20 laps allowed because of an oil tank issue.

Richards said yesterday’s test results were a positive outcome.

“We’ve been doing a lot of house keeping with the oil system and different components of the car... not as much tuning as Frosty did with his car, but I’m very pleased,” he said.

“We’re not going any faster than we were in the BF, but it does feel a bit different.

“The car seems to have good synergy; it turns in nicely and comes out of the corner with good linear throttle.”

Winterbottom believes the FG uses its tyres better when compared to the BF.

“The times I banged out in the last session on old tyres were pretty good,” he said.

“We had a quick car on new tyres last year, but on a longer run it was not so good.

“I think we’ve made that a lot better by improving little things, which will be good especially with the new format of racing this year.”

Team Principal, Tim Edwards, said the two FGs ran faultlessly from the outset at the test day.

“After two years’ hard work developing these cars, it’s fantastic to actually see them hit the track in anger,” Edwards said.

“And both drivers are happy with them, which is music to my ears.

“After (the test day) we know everything, from the drivers cooling suit to the gear shift, is working A-OK for Clipsal.”

A crash earlier in the day involving Fujitsu Series driver Marcus Zukanovic was deemed to have been caused by a mechanical problem.

Zukanovic received multiple leg fractures when he missed the second-last corner and collided with a safety barrier.

He was taken to Wangaratta Hospital in good spirits despite the fractures that will prevent him from lining up at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide next week.

About 6000 fans attended the test day at Winton and more than $17,000 in gatetakings was raised for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal.

The action heads to Queensland Raceway tomorrow (Wednesday) for the Queensland-based teams’ test day, with all proceeds from the day going to the Queensland Flood Appeal.

Frosty for Prime Minister

Good start to season