MELBOURNE GRAND PRIX RACEWRAP

It was only a week ago that the Ford Performance Racing Team were surveying the wreckage of what was chassis 0604 Castrol FPR Falcon after a suspension failure at Eastern Creek and began the task of fitting out Frosty’s 07 car, chassis 0503 for the weekends 3 races at the Grand Prix in Melbourne.

The team spent the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday fitting out the spare chassis and did a fantastic job. My Castrol FPR Falcon arrived at the circuit on the Wednesday afternoon all ready for action.

Manufacturers Challenge...

The Manufacturers Challenge is a new format that basically sees the Fords line up on one side of the grid and the Holden’s on the other. How does it work? Practice is the standard Aust GP format, with 1 x 30 min session, followed the same day by a 30 min qualifying session for all cars. This has been standard procedure since running at the GP for the last few years. It changes after qualifying however, when the fastest 5 Falcons and the fastest 5 Holden’s are selected, regardless of qualifying positions, to contest the Top Ten qualifying shootout. Then from the shootout the 5 Fords are lined up from fastest to slowest on one side of the grid and the 5 Holden’s on the other, with the rest of the cars lined up behind them. Then the starting order for race 2 is determined in the same manner. Fords on one side, Holden’s on the other. In order of finishing positions from the previous race.

Qualifying...

With all that said, practice went well for both FPR Falcons. After bolting on our second set of Dunlop’s car 6 was 7th and Frosty 9th. The car felt good and everything was operating as it should. We really used the first practice session as a shake down for the car as it had not been run since last year. After some very small suspension changes we headed out for Qualifying. On new Dunlop tyres the Castrol FPR Falcon felt fantastic and after the first flying lap we were 3rd fastest. The track was getting faster as the session went on, so with 7 minutes to go, we went out on the second set of tyres and went fastest. In the last minute Skaifey just knocked us off. Frosty finished up in 6th position. Having used two sets of tyres in Qualifying meant that we had to use them again in the shootout, while a couple of others still had 1 ‘green’ set left. The car was excellent though and I was confident of achieving a good result anyway. The lap was tidy and we finished up 3rd. This meant that as Lowndes finished second that we would start race1 from 4th as the second fastest Falcon.

Race 1...

I made a good escape from the line in race 1 and slotted straight in behind Craig to run in 3rd position. He was having a bit of a battle on cold tyres while mine were up to speed pretty quickly and with Garth starting to disappear up the road, I wanted to get on with it and get after him. The Vodafone car had a bit of a slide exiting turn 14 and I saw it as an opportunity, particularly as he didn’t defend. I moved to the inside under brakes and we made contact. While trying to avoid Lowndesy’s spinning Falcon I was hit by Rick Kelly which broke the left front suspension, stopping car 6 on the spot. GT won the race from Will Davison and Rick Kelly.

Race 2...

Starting at the back is never an exciting prospect, but with a great car under me I knew there was a good possibility of making some good ground forwards. Where I started on the grid, there was no way I could see the lights, so I was relying on Phil (my engineer) to call to me when the lights went out. I made a reasonable getaway and started to trek forwards. After 15 laps of torrid scrapping we ended up in 12th position from 26th starting position. Something of a revelation though was that as the 4th Ford across the line, meant we would start race 3 on Sunday from 8th position. Frosty had a great run to finish in 3rd place and jump on the podium for FPR. The Saturday race was again won by Holden’s Garth Tander from Fords Will Davison and Frosty.

Race 3...

With the temp for race 3 approaching 40 degrees and with a race length of 19 laps instead of the previous 15, this would be a good test for car and driver. I made a good getaway and gained one spot at the start and slotted into 7th. On the opening lap I had a good run on Skaifey into the slow turn 9, but he defended the inside line which made me vulnerable to Russell Ingall. Russ put a move on me which moved me back to 8th. After only a couple of laps and with Engine, Gearbox and brake temps soaring, I had to drop back a bit to get some clear air. The brakes were so hot they did not allow you to get close enough to the car in front to try and make a pass. This was evident by the fact that there was not much in the way of passing in race 3. In the end we finished in 6th after Jamie Whincup and Frosty had a coming together on the 2nd lap and retired from the race. The race was again won by Garth Tander from Will Davison and Rick Kelly.

Next up...

Unfortunately Holden took the Manufacturers Challenge, but we will give it a shake next year. The Castrol FPR Falcon performed brilliantly and I am really looking forward to putting our best foot forward at Hamilton in four weeks time. The new street circuit at Hamilton has come up a treat and with ticket sales 85% sold; it will be a huge event.

Until next time take it easy.

Richo.