PRODRIVE RACING – SANDOWN 500 QUALIFYING
Thanks to a stellar team drive by drivers Cam Waters and Richie Stanaway, Prodrive Racing (Australia) will start on pole at Sandown Raceway for the fourth time in team history. In a pair of Saturday qualifying races, Stanaway marched from sixth to third in Race 1, and Waters finished the job by blazing to the lead early and dominating Race 2 to put the #6 Monster Energy FG X on pole for Sunday’s Sandown 500. It is Waters’ second career pole (first since Race 1 at Barbagallo Raceway, 2016), and Stanaway’s first. Supercheap Auto duo Chaz Mostert and Steve Owen raced their way into the fifth starting position for Sunday’s 161-lap affair, while Mark Winterbottom and Dean Canto will line up ninth in the #5 The Bottle-O FG X following the pair of sprint races. MEGA Fuels drivers Jason Bright and Garry Jacobson will start 23rd after a mechanical issue set the #56 team back in the second qualifying race.
Qualifying Race 1: co-drivers
The first of two qualifying races was packed with action as all four Prodrive Racing entries jockeyed for position throughout the 19-lap affair. The race, originally scheduled for 20 laps, was cut short following a major incident on the penultimate lap, where fortunately all drivers involved were uninjured. However, the red flag deployed by the shunt had unlucky implications for Richie Stanaway. The Kiwi had snaked his #6 Monster Energy FG X from sixth to third, and had completed a pass for second just prior to the incident. Per the rulebook, Stanaway would not retain the position as that lap was not completed prior to the red flag being deployed, and Stanaway would receive third place honors. Dean Canto (#5 The Bottle-O FG X) held station to finish fourth in the co-driver race, while Steve Owen (#55 Supercheap Auto FG X) slipped from third to sixth before handing the keys to Chaz Mostert for the main game race later in the afternoon. MEGA Fuels driver Garry Jacobson climbed from 20th starting position to finish 18th in the #56 FG X to round out the team’s results in Race 1. Prodrive Racing’s main game drivers would start Race 2 of the “Race For The Grid” from the positions which their co-drivers finished in Race 1.
Qualifying Race 2: main drivers
Following some downtime for setup adjustments, the main game drivers took to the grid for their own sprint race, where Stanaway’s partner Cam Waters (#6 Monster Energy FG X) led every lap to claim the win and his second career pole. Waters screamed from third to first off the start line, and held off Scott McLaughlin for the remainder of the event to claim the win. Chaz Mostert (#55 Supercheap Auto FG X) recovered from a slow start to finish fifth, while Mark Winterbottom (#5 The Bottle-O FG X) struggled off the line but climbed back to a ninth-place finish. Jason Bright’s frustrating day continued when the #56 MEGA Fuels FG X encountered a problem with the starter motor on the grid. The Prodrive Racing crew quickly diagnosed and fixed the issue, but not before Bright lost three laps, ultimately finishing 23rd.
DRIVERS’ VIEW
#5 The Bottle-O PRA Ford:
Dean Canto
Quali Race 1: 4th
“Obviously the car at the start of the race was a little bit weak. Richie had a look at me on that first lap, I had a small mistake at Turn 9 on the opening lap, and just let him go because, basically this is a qualifying race, and it’s not too critical. But the car was a little weak in the beginning, and the engineers said the tyre pressures were coming up which was hampering the car a little bit. We still struggled with a little bit of balance through the whole race. I adjusted the roll bars, and started to get a bit of a good balance on the car – the pace normalised a little bit. Outright pace I think we’re still a little bit off, so we’re going to work on that overnight. Car 6 is a little different than ours, and we might look at some of the stuff they’ve gotten and bolt a bit of it on ours and see if we can improve the pace a bit. But it’s not much, we were actually the fastest car in the first sector that race, but Turn 4 was our weakest which hurts us down the back straight, and the last corner hurt us a bit as well. Two key points we’ve got to work on but it doesn’t need much to get it just that little step further up the sheets.”
Mark Winterbottom
Qualifying: 4th
Quali Race 2: 9th
“I was lucky I didn’t stall on the line. The car flamed out so we need to get the mapping a little better but we’ll work on it to improve. In the race we had good drive and only lacked a little bit of turn so we can tidy it up a bit and I think we’ll have a good race car. It was unfortunate we dropped so many places at the start and in the short 20-lap race there isn’t enough time to recover them all. Congratulations to Cam for getting pole and it is great for the team we have a few cars up there.”
#6 Monster Energy PRA Ford
Richie Stanaway
Quali Race 1: 3rd
“Obviously we’re happy with how the day went. Cam did a great job in the second race, got a good start, and it was cool to see him out there leading, and obviously get the best possible position to start the race for tomorrow. We’ll just go over all the data, and see what we can improve for tomorrow and then hopefully we can have a good run then.”
Cameron Waters
Qualifying: 6th
Quali Race 2: 1st
“I am pumped to get pole and start from P1. To lead every lap and take the win is brilliant. The car was awesome and I am so excited to be starting from pole. I wanted to do some burnouts but we need the tyres for tomorrow! Richie is doing a fantastic job. He moved forward in his race and that allowed me to have a chance at the win. The crew are working well together and we’re starting in the best spot possible. We have been pretty close to getting a podium this year and it hasn’t quite clicked yet but we have a great chance tomorrow.”
#55 Supercheap Auto PRA Ford:
Steve Owen
Quali Race 1: 6th
“The car was pretty loose for me, so we made some more changes for Chaz. But, yeah, I dropped a couple positions at the start, and that always makes it pretty hard, but we should be straight. I brought it back P6, and Chaz got us to P5, so we’ll set it up for a longer race tomorrow.”
Chaz Mostert
Qualifying: 3rd
Quali Race 2: 5th
“I moved past cars that got me on the start as I didn’t have the best one, but overall I was happy with the car. I could do what I wanted, put the car where I wanted and the tyres hung in there even though I was passing cars. I am pleased with the package we’ve got, so I am hoping it carries over to tomorrow where the grip levels will come up. It is a great result for the team to have Cam and Richie on pole. We have three cars on the pace which is what we’ll need tomorrow to take the fight to everyone else.”
#56 MEGA Bulk Fuels PRA Ford:
Garry Jacobson
Quali Race 1: 18th
“It was nice to get back in Jason’s car and start a main series race for the first time. I gained a couple of spots and was reasonably happy but on reflection there are some things I need to do better having seen what Jason was doing on the data. Even though we are starting a fair way back I am looking forward to making my debut.”
Jason Bright
Qualifying: 20th
Quali Race 2: 23rd
“We lost out on qualifying as I needed to do a time on the second set of tyres but we missed the mark and that put me back on the grid. The starter motor failure meant where we qualified was irrelevant and it was unfortunate as those fail very rarely in our sport. When I went to fire the car on the grid it turned over slowly and then wouldn’t turn over again. We got back out and while we weren’t classified the car was strong and we had top 10 pace which is encouraging for tomorrow.”
Tim Edwards – Team Principal:
“First and foremost I’m very happy for Cam and Richie. They both drove tremendously and earned that pole, which we’re quite proud of. Having two more cars starting in the ten is good as well, and obviously those drivers know how to manage enduro races, so we’ll have high hopes for Sunday. It’s unfortunate, what happened with Brighty, but of course these things happen in racing. Jason’s a pro, and Garry’s been quick so I’m confident they’ll make up ground, and tomorrow’s a long race. It’ll be a challenge as always, but we’re looking forward to having a strong showing tomorrow and hope to score some big results.”
DUNLOP SUPER2 SERIES – RACE 1
After leading both practice sessions on Friday, Prodrive Racing’s Super2 team had a tough Saturday, as Josh Kean and Garry Jacobson each found themselves off-course during portions of the morning qualifying, relegating them to 15th and 21st starting positions, respectively. Kean’s race was quite lively, as the Adelaide native was entrenched in multiple battles throughout the 22-lap contest en route to a 16th place finish. Jacobson claimed four positions early and four more on a Lap 7 restart, but was hit with a drive-through penalty for violating restart procedures shortly thereafter. Slotted in 21st, Jacobson picked up two more positions to finish 19th.
Garry Jacobson – #1 MEGA Bulk Fuels PRA Ford:
Qualifying: 21st
Race: 19th
“I was feeling good this morning as we were quick on Friday but I got caught out in quali. There was a massive tailwind and I got caught out, ran off the track and through the wet grass. I started down the back and made a great start, but I accidently passed a car too early on the restart after the safety car and had a penalty and that was it.”
Josh Kean – #5 Wynns Racing PRA Ford:
Qualifying: 15th
Race: 16th
“We tried a few things to make the car better but overall we hurt our drive and it made it too hard to race and pass. Hopefully we can take all the good things we’ve found and put them together so we can spend time racing and not trying to pass a lot of cars. Fingers crossed we have a good day and a big haul of points tomorrow.”
Allgate Ranger Racing
Industrial and Commercial Garage Doors, Gates, Repairs & Automation
P: 1300 655 600
E: service@allgate.com.au
W: www.allgate.com.au
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