On the pace ahead of the great race

10 October 2013

Frosty 2nd in practice

Ford Pepsi Max Crew has ended the opening day of action at the Bathurst 1000 with two cars in the top four as drivers adapted to the new era V8 Supercars at the Mount Panorama circuit. 

Mark was the teams fastest runner in second place, two positions ahead of Will in fourth. 

High ambient temperatures and very strong winds made for a steep learning curve, which claimed the teams sister car of Alex Davison who made a heavy impact with the wall on both sides of the track heading to Sulman Park at the top of the mountain. 

Much of the field found it hard to tune their cars in the conditions but cooler weather from tomorrow is expected to make driving on the limit easier. 


Mark Winterbottom & Steven Richards - #5 Pepsi Max FPR Ford:
Ended the day: 2nd    
Winterbottom
The new cars are definitely different so we have to use these practice sessions more so than any other year weve been here. We are not too far away from where we need to be but the handling needs improving so hopefully once we work on the set-up overnight we will get what we need and go a bit quicker. There are a lot of people worse off than us so it isnt a bad start to the weekend.

Will Davison & Steve Owen - #6 Pepsi Max FPR Ford:
Ended the day: 4th 
Davison
It was a really interesting day for everyone especially with the hot track conditions. Bathurst is daunting on the best of days but it was tricky to get the car balance right and being hot and slippery with a car we dont know that well; it certainly got our attention. We worked through our program and we werent happy early but the last session brought massive inroads. The tyres had done a lot of laps and I was the first of the cars which didnt run new rubber so I am feeling really good about things.

Tim Edwards FPR Team Principal: 
Today was one of the more challenging days for everyone despite brilliant weather and finishing with three cars in the top four. We are all still adapting to the new cars around a very unique circuit and the high temperatures and strong wind certainly added another element. All that aside, we obviously have started going in the right direction so cooler weather and some tuning should bring further gains. That said, the crew will have a bit of work to do tonight on car 18 after Alexs shunt so the mountain has shown that it is as tough as ever.

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