Richo 'I love this track'

4 December 2009

Frosty was 9th in practice and wants more laps

Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit has received a big thumbs up from FPR’s Steve Richards, who rates it amongst his favourite V8 Supercar tracks after today’s practice.

“I think the track is fantastic; I really do,” the Castrol FPR Falcon driver said of V8s' newest venue. “It’s really got three very distinct parts to it and I love it. I think it’s a really good thing! You have to be very aggressive with it and the car has to be working well but at the moment it is, so I’m really encouraged for tomorrow.”

Richo was 11th fastest today but is brimming with enthusiasm for tomorrow’s first race after reporting massive improvements with his car from the last round.

“It’s a good car; confident to drive,” he said. “I can hustle it into the apex and it’s got margin; it feels really good and keeps generating time. It uses a lot of brakes but even over the bump I felt I could be a bit deeper and the car would turn. There’s no way I could have thought that before this weekend.”

Team-mate Mark Winterbottom finished ninth quickest in the Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon and says the main characteristic of the new Sydney Telstra 500 track is the aggressive driving it requires.

“The track’s really good,” he said. “It’s quite tough and I didn’t really get the most out of the time there. It’s a pretty difficult track, you’ve got to drive it hard and it’s just tight in spots; much tighter than we’d thought.” 

Ford Performance Racing cars will be back on track for qualifying from 10.00am tomorrow.

Sydney Telstra 500 - Race 25 & 26
SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK STREET CIRCUIT
Practice

1. Garth Tander, HRT, 1:30.1032R
2. Lee Holdsworth, GRM, +0.0961
3. Shane Van Gisbergen, SBR, +0.1295
4. Will Davison, HRT, +0.2912
5. David Reynolds, Walkinshaw Racing, +0.3074
6. Greg Murphy, Tasman, +0.3170
7. James Courtney, DJR, +0.3360
8. Cameron McConville, BJR, +0.3744
9. Mark Winterbottom, Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon, +0.5093
10. Paul Dumbrell, Walkinshaw Racing, +0.6416
11. Steven Richards, Castrol FPR Racing, +0.6906

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