Ford Performance Racing (FPR) has concluded a trouble-free day of running with all three cars inside the top 10 at the Reid Park street circuit following the opening day of action at the 2011 Sucrogen Townsville 400.
Paul Dumbrell started the day on a high, setting the fastest time in the opening two 30-minute practice sessions.
He was joined by Steve Richards and Luke Youlden who again took part in the opening two sessions ahead of the V8 Supercar endurance races at Phillip Island and Bathurst.
Richards spent time in the #95 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon of Mark Winterbottom and Youlden was behind the wheel of the #6 Trading Post FPR Falcon before they handed the cars back to their regular drivers for practice three and four.
Winterbottom and Davison were straight on the pace and both spent periods at the head of the timesheets throughout the two relatively issue-free practice runs.
The team worked on a range of race and qualifying set-ups and all three factory Falcons ended the day inside the top 10.
Action gets underway tomorrow with a 20-minute qualifying session followed by a top 10 shootout and the first of two 72-lap races across the weekend.
DRIVERS’ VIEW
Mark Winterbottom – #95 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon
Practice 1: 4th – 1m14.91s (Steve Richards)
Practice 2: 15th – 1m14.97s (Steve Richards)
Practice 3: 5th – 1m13.96s
Practice 4: 6th – 1m13.14s
“We tried a lot of different things and the car wasn’t too bad at the end so we just need to tidy it up a bit. We improved when we fitted new tyres at the end, but there are still a few things we need to find in order to make up the deficit we have but we know what they are. It should be a very good car on softs and once we make the necessary changes overnight we should make the gains we need.”
Will Davison – #6 Trading Post FPR Falcon
P1: 18th – 1m15.59s (Luke Youlden)
P2: 16th – 1m15.07s (Luke Youlden)
P3: 9th – 1m14.03s
P4: 7th – 1m13.14s
“The car isn’t too far away. I should have ended the day a little higher as I lost time behind Shane van Gisbergen on what would have been by best lap. But, today isn’t qualifying and we made good headway with the car and it all feels pretty good. We have long races here and we will also be using (Dunlop’s) soft compound tyre in both of them so we need a car that conserves its rear tyres well. Around Reid Park you are always giving something away in set-up due to the varying nature of the track though we aren’t far away so I can’t wait for tomorrow.”
Paul Dumbrell – #55 The Bottle-O FPR Falcon
P1: 1st – 1m14.32s
P2: 1st – 1m13.76s
P3: 6th – 1m13.98s
P4: 10th – 1m13.30s
“The car was great straight out of the box which showed as we finished all sessions inside the top 10, though we didn’t finish as high as we should have with 10th in that last session. There is a bit more work to do overnight but with all three cars looking quick we know we aren’t far off where we need to be. The track doesn’t seem to have anywhere near as much grip as it did last year so it will be challenging. Come tomorrow we will be using both compounds of tyres so there will be a lot of rubber off line so we could be in for a tough race.”
Tim Edwards – FPR Team Principal
“Today was the ideal way to start the weekend. All three cars showed good pace straight away and we have a solid foundation to build on ahead of tomorrow. Paul was particularly impressive across all four practices and his speed in the first two sessions helped us find a direction for the afternoon. The engineers and drivers will work through the required changes tonight and hopefully we can find that little bit extra for what will be a challenging race.”