PRODRIVE RACING – SANDOWN 500 QUALIFYING
Prodrive Racing (Australia)’s youngest enduro pairing packed the biggest punch on Sunday, as Monster Energy drivers Cam Waters and Richie Stanaway won the Sandown 500 from the pole position. The duo held off a late charge by Car 17 driver Scott McLaughlin as Waters drove the final 70 laps to secure the young pair’s first Supercars race victory, and Prodrive Racing’s third win of 2017. Chaz Mostert and Steve Owen (#55 Supercheap Auto FG X) raced in the top five for a majority of the afternoon, and consistent pace landed the pair on the third step of the podium at day’s end. Mark Winterbottom and Dean Canto (#5 The Bottle-O FG X) recovered from a first lap spin to finish 10th, while a drive-through penalty for Jason Bright and Garry Jacobson relegated the MEGA Fuels duo to a 17th place finish.
DRIVERS’ VIEW
#5 The Bottle-O PRA FordStart: 9thFinish: 10th
Dean Canto“Didn’t start well from Lap 1, getting turned around. So from there it was always going to be tough. After the first stop we got some clear air and the car was really, really strong. Came up onto the back of Car 9, and even Car 55, who obviously went on the finish third. And Car 9 just made my life hell. His car was very average, but there was nothing I could do down the straights, and he was really aggressive with trying to protect his position. The boys said it cost us about 20 seconds on track to Car 55, so it’s frustrating. Considering where the other cars finished I think we would have been in the top five, but anyway, we’ll get that one out of the way.” Mark Winterbottom“First off congratulations to Cam and Richie on a really impressive win, it’s great for the team. Unfortunately for us it just wasn’t our day. We had great car pace throughout the afternoon but between Dean getting spun and later getting hung up we just couldn’t find any good luck. We had the car and strategy for a top five, maybe even better, but it wasn’t meant to be. Hopefully we used up all our bad luck and can enjoy some good luck at Bathurst.” #6 Monster Energy PRA FordStart: 1stFinish: 1stRichie Stanaway“Definitely a career highlight for me. It still hasn’t quite sunk in that we got the win. We said to each other on Wednesday that if we’d pole and win that we would have thought we were kidding ourselves, so I think neither of us can really believe it at the moment, but it’s a huge credit to our team that have been pushing really hard to increase the performance of our cars, and what we’ve rolled out this week has obviously been very competitive. Cam did an amazing job holding off Scotty there. Great result for us.” Cameron Waters“That’s probably one of the most pressured battles I’ve ever been in, and one of the career highlights. That last stint was pretty full on, and the lapped traffic kind of worked against me, and then it worked for me. We were trying to look after the tires a bit. Scotty was catching me, and I think probably gave up a little bit, so I just tried to manage the gap, and I knew he was going to come at me pretty hard at the end, so (he) had a crack, and I managed to hold him off.” #55 Supercheap Auto PRA FordStart: 5thFinish: 3rdSteve Owen“Great day for the team overall, and congrats to Cam and Richie on a job well done. Our game today really just game down to staying out of trouble and laying down consistent pace. A couple guys ahead of us had issues which moved us up but Chaz and I had to fight hard at times as well to gain position. Of course that led to us getting a penalty early on, but it is what it is. The car was good, and it’s always nice to bring home a trophy, so a pretty good day.” Chaz Mostert“As a team we’ve been working pretty hard. We’ve had some lows this year – Winton we had a mechanical failure, and also Darwin we struggled for pace – so I think we’ve been putting those bricks back together, getting more base setups with our cars, and this weekend even in the wet our car was really, really quick. I felt very comfortable in the car, our race, I’m actually pretty shocked to be on the podium to be honest with you. We were a little bit further back in the pack. Would’ve been good to be at the pointy end with the other boys, get in there and have a race with those guys, but to get a podium today is pretty awesome as well.” #56 MEGA Bulk Fuels PRA FordStart: 23rdFinish: 17thGarry Jacobson“It’s tough because we were moving forward early and thought we could have been on for a decent result. Unfortunately I got pushed wide in Turn 9 and lost heaps of ground, then the pit lane penalty just added onto a difficult weekend for us. Hopefully we shook all the bad luck off this weekend and can get back after it at Bathurst.” Jason Bright“Obviously it wasn’t a good weekend from the get-go. We started a fair way back, Garry did a good job. He had a few dramas late in the stint, he seemed to get caught off line a little bit, but I thought the car was difficult to drive today. We didn’t have quite the pace we had in yesterday’s races, so when I got in unfortunately we had a penalty and went a lap down, so we just pushed on to the checkered flag, and we’ll push on to Bathurst.” Tim Edwards – Team Principal: “Brilliant. Cam and Richie impressed everybody with the way they drove yesterday, but to back it up with today is just outstanding. Credit to Chaz and Steve as well to get on the podium, and good to see Frosty and Dean bounce back from tough luck to finish in the ten. The team have been working extremely hard this year, and this is just the result we need going into Bathurst. Good day.”
DUNLOP SUPER2 SERIES – RACE 2
Another lively Super2 race saw split fates for Prodrive Racing’s two entries. Wynns Racing pilot Josh Kean kept his nose clean to jump from a 15th starting position to finish a season-best 6th, but Garry Jacobson’s great start was all for naught as he came home 20th. Kean fought his way around several opponents on track and avoided collisions and spins around him to bring his FG X across the line P6. Jacobson started 8th and jumped to fourth on the first lap, but was shoved wide on a later restart, losing positions, and made contact with another car in the final laps, earning a drive-through penalty on the penultimate lap to finish P20. Garry Jacobson – #1 MEGA Bulk Fuels PRA Ford:Qualifying: 8th Race: 20th“I just tried to do too much at the end. The car was fairly strong for us, and having a decent starting position we had a chance to recover from yesterday. I picked up some spots at the start, then lost a bunch later when I got run wide, which was unfortunate. I was battling with Josh towards the end, and of course you don’t want to hit your teammate, so in avoiding making contact with him I accidentally turned another car, and paid the price for it.” Josh Kean – #5 Wynns Racing PRA Ford:Qualifying: 15thRace: 6th “We just stayed out of trouble. The car was better than yesterday, we’ve still got some little things to work on, but we’re definitely heading in the right direction. Pleased with the effort, and just really good to stay out of trouble and get a good result for the team. It’s the best one we’ve had all year. It’s nice to be up there, and hopefully we can carry it forward to the next one.”
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