Precipitation makes Perth Puzzling

Frosty happy with car balance despite time sheet position

PRA’s drivers all showed strong pace across the opening day of action at Barbagallo Raceway north of Perth, though frequent rain showers made it difficult to gauge exactly how well they are placed heading into the weekend’s racing. 

Cam’s 14th-place was more down to the weather than his car pace as the rookie shadowed his more experienced team-mates for most of the day inside the top-five. 

Reigning champion Frosty led the way for much of the opening session and while rain meant he was 16th on the day’s final timesheets, he was very content with his performance in both conditions. 

Mark Winterbottom - #1 The Bottle-O PRA Ford: 16th – 57.00s
"I think the car is pretty good. I didn’t get to use the right tyres at the end but the balance is solid. We found a window early in the day to run an old set of softs but after that the weather and our program didn’t give us the chance to try it with a green set. I think we are ok but tomorrow with new rubber we’ll go a lot quicker and see where we end up. I am pretty happy with the day given the pace we showed with the tyres we used.” 
 
Cameron Waters - #6 Monster Energy PRA Ford: 14th – 56.95s
"I am fairly happy with how the car is. We are chasing one thing and trying a lot of things to fix it and we didn’t quite get there. If we sort that out we will be pretty quick tomorrow. We’ll review the data overnight and focus on that and if I did a lap at the end without the rain it would’ve been top-four. Most of the field is in the same boat so we can’t complain.” 
   
Tim Edwards – Team Principal: 
"It was a tricky day for everyone with the weather and while it was the same for everyone, we think we’ve been quite productive given the circumstances. When track conditions were consistent the pace was there and each of the drivers knows what they want to improve. There’s no guarantee the weather will be any better tomorrow so we’ll just work with what we get.”

DUNLOP SERIES
Prodrive Racing (Australia) Dunlop Series duo Jack Le Brocq and Garry Jacobson endured the inconsistencies caused by the wet weather like their main series counterparts. Le Brocq set an early benchmark in the opening session before the rain set in and finished top, but in the second session far worse conditions meant he finished fifth and Jacobson 10th heading into Saturday’s qualifying and opening race.