PRODRIVE RACING – GOLD COAST FRIDAY WRAP
Setting a top six time in each of Friday’s three Supercar sessions on the Gold Coast, Chaz Mostert and Steve Owen (#55 Supercheap Auto FG X) flew the flag for Prodrive Racing (Australia) on the first and only day of practice for the Gold Coast 600. Mostert, who moved back to Queensland in 2015, led the opening session of the day and was second quickest in the late afternoon on the 2.96 km Surfers Paradise street circuit. Co-driver Steve Owen held his own in the co-driver session in the middle, running sixth overall.
The Bottle-O pilots Mark Winterbottom and Dean Canto represented well in their return to the green colours, running in the top seven in each session themselves. Cameron Waters and Richie Stanaway (#6 Monster FG X) recovered from a slow morning session to place well in the remaining practices, while Jason Bright and Garry Jacobson salvaged clean running after a brief interruption to address minor electrical changes.
Saturday calls for precipitation which should make for an interesting day that involves morning qualifying and a 102-lap race in the afternoon. Having shown strong pace in the wet at the Bathurst 1000, the team remain confident they can run up front regardless of what Mother Nature brings.
DRIVERS’ VIEW
#5 The Bottle-O PRA Ford
Practice 1: 5th, 1m11.73s
Practice 2 (co-driver, Dean Canto): 5th, 1m11.53s
Practice 3: 7th, 1m10.56s
Mark Winterbottom
“We had a pretty good run. Session one I felt really comfortable. I thought we would’ve gone P1 in that session, which would have been pretty good. But then we just went backwards a little bit in that last session. The car’s not as easy to drive, but the track’s evolved. Definitely not more comfortable in session one than session three but our pace was okay. I dealt with traffic a bit in that last session, so we could probably be P4 on the road. We’ll look at data and try to improve it, but we have been strong and we lost a little bit, so that was sort of how we ended the day.”
#6 Monster Energy PRA Ford
Practice 1: 21st, 1m12.35s
Practice 2 (co-driver, Richie Stanaway): 2nd, 1m11.31s
Practice 3: 8th, 1m10.57s
Cameron Waters
“The day in general was pretty good. I thought we were pretty good in the first session but we had red flags come out. We improved the car all day; Richie is really comfy in the car, which is really good around here. We’ve got a little bit to find, there’s probably a little bit in doing a proper flying lap and just fine tuning everything, so we’ll be good for tomorrow.”
#55 Supercheap Auto PRA Ford
Practice 1: 1st, 1m11.06s
Practice 2 (co-driver, Steve Owen): 6th, 1m11.62s
Practice 3: 2nd, 1m10.10s
Chaz Mostert
“Still two tenths away (from P1), but for us it was our third lap. Just kept getting kerb strikes, I didn’t expect the grip to come up going into the first chicane so I kept making some mistakes there. Then I think Craig (Lowndes) and (Alex) Rullo were together in the hairpin so it was all going on at the end there. But I’m just super stoked to be up on this stage here today, because each year at this place I’ve kind of struggled for pace, so it’s good. The car feels pretty good, I’m sure we can tweak it up a little bit more and see if we can get the right lap tomorrow.”
#56 MEGA Fuels PRA Ford
Practice 1: 24th, 1m12.94s
Practice 2 (co-driver, Garry Jacobson): 25th, 1m13.12s
Practice 3: 22nd, 1m11.49s
Jason Bright
“I’m not too worried about the time at the end of the day. I just didn’t feel like the day flowed well on a track where you need to have a lot of confidence. We can see where there’s some good chunks of time to come. In tomorrow’s qualifying session we’ll see if we can do that. Who knows whether it’s going to be wet or dry, but I’m happy with the car, we just didn’t nail a lap at the end of the session.”
Tim Edwards – Team Principal
“Not a bad day from the team but not exactly a perfect one either. I think all of our cars are missing a piece here or there from being up front, but we’re in the window which is positive. Everyone seems to know what and where they need to gain time, so we’ll make the necessary adjustments overnight and see what Saturday has in store.”
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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