Prodrive Racing (Australia)’s Mark Winterbottom is confident braking issues previously experienced so far this year have been rectified at the Tasmania SuperSprint with The Bottle-O Racing driver finishing within the top 10 in each of today’s practice sessions. Both Winterbottom and his teammate Cameron Waters experienced a day of smooth sailing with one practice session still remaining. Waters spent the entirety of practice one on a single set of tyres, testing the tyre over a longer period of time than previously experienced. Chaz Mostert and Jason Bright both suffered setup setbacks in practice two after strong runs in the opening session. Remaining confident in the car’s speed, Mostert will use the final practice session ahead of qualifying to finalise their setup. Overnight analysis of the car will be key for Bright who insists gaining a tow at this track is key to a quick lap.
Mark Winterbottom – #5 The Bottle-O PRA Ford:
Practice 1: 9th – 51.54s
Practice 2: 8th – 51.10s
“The braking was really good today. It was really cool to have my braking confidence back and that now means that we can start working on the car which is great because previously I couldn’t brake and it caused lots of dramas. It was a little bit slow down the straight for whatever reason so we need to tidy that up overnight and tune it up a little bit. With stopping I’m a lot more confident and it makes me look forward to hopping in the car which is a good thing.”
Cameron Waters – #6 Monster Energy PRA Ford:
Practice 1: 19th – 51.95s
Practice 2: 10th – 51.12s
“We ran on the same set of tyres for most of practice one to feel out the supersofts over a longer distance so our finishing position there wasn’t an overly accurate indication of where we were. Session two was a lot better; we tried a few different things and got the car up there so we’ll keep working on it in practice tomorrow and see if we can’t do any better.”
Chaz Mostert – #55 Supercheap Auto PRA Ford:
Practice 1: 6th – 51.40s
Practice 2: 19th – 51.39s
“It was a bit of a tough day. We didn’t do too bad in the first practice and we were trucking along alright in the second session but we did a change for the green tyre run at the end and it threw the setup balance out the window a bit. It’s good to learn these things today. We should be around the top five or top six. We’ll regroup tonight and have a look at the positives and negatives and see if we can edge a little bit closer to the top guys tomorrow.”
Jason Bright – #56 MEGA Bulk Fuels PRA Ford:
Practice 1: 12th – 51.71s
Practice 2: 21st – 51.47s
“I didn’t feel like we went forward in the second session. I thought we weren’t too bad in the first practice. I expected a bit more in the last session but I didn’t really get a lap together and didn’t get a tow so we’ll look at what we changed between the two sessions. I felt like we were a little bit further off our teammates and the front of the field in that second session so we’ll get a bit back for tomorrow. Around here it’s all about making sure you get a tow and we didn’t do a good job of that today.”
Tim Edwards – Team Principal:
“Plenty to take from today. We took a few steps back on one side of the garage and a few forward on the other so if we can marry it all up and see what we did right and what we did wrong we should be able to get ourselves in a good position for tomorrow. They’re still all learning. With another practice session still to go there’s plenty of time to dial the car in before we get too serious. Conditions today should be fairly similar to what we’ll experience tomorrow so we have a fair indication of what we should be looking at.”
Prodrive Racing (Australia)’s Dunlop Super2 Series pilots have both completed race one within the top 10 despite a rough start for Garry Jacobson. Despite qualifying on pole, Jacobson was excluded from the session after failing to observe red flags. Jacobson took advantage of strong car speed, moving up 13 spots to finish the race in 10th. Josh Kean enjoyed a consistent and trouble-free run, finishing in eighth place with further improvements possible for the remaining three races.
Garry Jacobson – #1 McQuinn Electrical PRA Ford:
Qualifying: 23rd (1st – 52.34s )
Race 1: 10th
“Today was a really positive start to the weekend. The crew has put in a lot of homework between the Clipsal 500 and now to start this weekend with a much more competitive car than we had a few weeks ago. Practice one went well, front row, qualifying went well, front row, I made a mistake and missed a red flag in qualifying and as motorsport is, the rules are the same for everybody so I’ll cop that penalty on the chin. That meant that 23rd was my starting position but I was able to use the car speed that I had to get up through the field. I just had to make sure I made clean moves and not make our weekend worse by locking up a tyre and taking someone out, that was the main focus. I was happy to finish 10th, we’ve still got three more races to go so it’s a lot easier to start from there and get to the front than it is from 23rd.”
Josh Kean – #5 Wynns Racing PRA Ford:
Qualifying: 8th – 52.72s
Race 1: 8th
“Today was really good. It was really hard to make any moves out there; the field was pretty much just a freight train. There are a couple of little things we can work on; getting the car to rotate a bit more and stuff like that and I think tomorrow we should be in for a chance of moving forward. Fingers crossed we can make that happen and keep moving through the field tomorrow.”
