SBR TACKLE TYRE CHALLENGE AT BARBAGALLO

Topics:  Trading Post Perth Challenge

Stone Brothers Racing
April 29, 2011

Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) battled tricky track conditions at Barbagallo Raceway in Western Australia today to post practice results that show signs of promise for the racing to come this weekend.

With nearly all drivers in the V8 Supercar field complaining of a lack of grip in today’s sessions, SBR made the most of their track time to bring home the Falcons of Alex Davison and Tim Slade in the top ten, with Shane van Gisbergen not far behind.

Conducted solely on the harder compound Dunlop ‘Control’ tyre, today’s practice was a prelude to tomorrow’s qualifying that will see a single 20-minute session determine the starting grid for the 50-lap race. Unlike previous V8 Supercar events, there will be no top ten shootout this weekend.

On Sunday, another 20-minute qualifying session will be run, where each driver’s fastest time will determine their grid position for race one, and their second fastest time will determine their grid position for race two. All sessions on Sunday will be run on the softer compound Dunlop ‘Sprint’ tyre.

So as you can see, once again tyres are the all important factor this weekend when it comes to determining who’ll be on top, and if today was any indication, SBR should be at the pointy end of the field when racing starts tomorrow.

Ross Stone – Team Principal, Stone Brothers Racing

“Overall today was a pretty good day. Obviously it was all about tyres and coming to term with the track conditions and I think our boys managed some worth results on the one set of greens they each used. There’s plenty left in us for tomorrow.”

Shane van Gisbergen – Driver, SP Tools Racing Car #9

“Like most people I was struggling with grip early on. The car was much better towards the end of the final session. The biggest hurdle today was how differently the car behaved when switching from old rubber to new. It really had a dramatic effect on the balance of the car but we’ve got our head around that and will make the required changes tonight and be back in the chase tomorrow.”

Alex Davison – Driver, IRWIN Racing Car #4

“Not a bad result today. Top ten is where we wanted to be but obviously a little further up would have been nice. They were unbelievably tricky conditions out there – probably the slipperiest conditions I have experienced in a while – a real struggle for grip and to set the car to correctly but I expect that’s what everyone else out there was battling as well. We have a lot of work to do tonight but we’re pointing in the right direction for qualifying tomorrow.”

Tim Slade – Driver, Lucky 7 Racing Car #47

“We had steering dramas earlier on today which held our progress up a little but we were able to sort that out and get on with it. A pretty good day and we definitely improved the car throughout the four sessions. It’s all about the tyres here and I think this afternoon’s final session was a good indicator of where we’re at and am confident we’ll be back in the top ten tomorrow.”

The SBR Falcons return to the Barbagallo circuit tomorrow at 10.50am (local time) for the all-important qualifying session, followed by race one at 2.05pm.

Practice 4 Results – (Top Ten)

1    88  TeamVodafone                    Jamie Whincup 0:56.6758*
2     8  Team BOC                            Jason Bright 0:56.8304
3   888  TeamVodafone                   Craig Lowndes 0:56.8772
4    15  Jack Daniel's Racing            Rick Kelly 0:56.8892
5     6  Trading Post FPR Falcon     Will Davison 0:57.0142
6    61  Bundaberg Racing               Fabian Coulthard 0:57.1161
7     5  Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon      Mark Winterbottom 0:57.1643
8    18  Jim Beam Racing                 James Moffat 0:57.1643
9     4  Irwin Racing                          Alex Davison 0:57.1715
10   47  Lucky 7 Racing                   Tim Slade 0:57.1739
17    9  SP Tools Racing                  Shane Van Gisbergen 0:57.4823