Hot and cold in the territory

21 June 2014

Ford Pepsi Max Crew has ended the opening day of action in the Northern Territory with little areas of improvement for each driver after a day of practice for the weekends SKYCITY Triple Crown. 

It was difficult to determine the teams true pace on a day highlighted by vastly-differing tyre quality and compound choice, but it was Frosty who emerged the quickest in 10th. 

The team did not run the faster soft compound rubber in the final 20-minute hit-out like many of its rivals, but Frosty was third-quickest of the group that used hard tyres. 

Chaz Mostert finished 23rd after a day spent chasing his preferred set-up, while a small mistake cost him a higher spot up the order in the final session. 

With ambient temperatures soaring to more than 32 degrees, tyre management will be key for the rest of the event.

Mark Winterbottom - #5 Pepsi Max FPR Ford: 10th
Today wasnt too bad. Trying to get the best out of the good tyre run still needs work. On used rubber we are fine but there are improvements we can make on fresh tyres. We tried a few things, some worked and some didnt. When everyone has the same tyre tomorrow, at the same time, in the same conditions well know where we really sit. We are a little off right now but well look at the data and go again.

Chaz Mostert - #6 Pepsi Max FPR Ford: 23rd   
I have no idea where we ended up but tonight is all about working out how we roll out stronger tomorrow. I didnt do the best job today and we are still trying to find the set-up which works for me here. Mark was pretty strong so we will look over all the data and make the changes we think we need to get more out of the whole package.

Tim Edwards Team Principal: 
Its impossible to get a clear read from today so we wont know where we sit exactly until qualifying tomorrow. We do know areas wed like to improve and each driver has at least one thing they want to fix so there will be plenty of numbering-crunching tonight ahead of tomorrow morning.
- See more at: http://www.fpr.com.au/news/2014/06/20/hot-and-cold-in-the-territory#sthash.YjvXUCAf.dpuf