FPR seeks stronger result in the Sunshine State
29/6/2004 0:12 (Press Release) -
Ford Performance Racing (FPR) travels to Queensland Raceway this weekend for the 6th Round of the 2004 Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series seeking to start a much stronger challenge during the second half of this 13 round season.
Following the engine failures which plagued the team in Perth three weeks ago, FPR has embarked on a non-stop program of engine re-building and dyno testing in order to best prepare the team for Sunday's fast paced 280 kilometre enduro at Queensland Raceway.
Reliability will be the major issue for FPR drivers Craig Lowndes and Glenn Seton in Queensland, with both drivers reporting significant chassis improvements at Darwin and Perth.
CAT FPR Falcon driver Lowndes celebrated his 30th birthday last week and is keen to celebrate this with a podium result at this round. He is the V8 Supercar category's most successful driver at Queensland Raceway, racing to the podium in four of his seven visits to this 3.1 kilometre circuit.
With both FPR drivers being sunshine state residents, this race takes on a home event feel for Seton and Lowndes, who are eager to return to the longer enduro race format at Queensland Raceway following the recent sprint style races.
Strong results in Queensland will be essential to assist Lowndes and Seton to progress from their 17th and 21st positions in the Championship standings. The Prodrive owned blue oval team is making the most of its global technical resources to ensure that this is the case, with a number of engine technicians making the trip to Australia to assist the team at Queensland Raceway and during the two day test scheduled following the round. (July 12/13)
Seton will be competing in Queensland with the same Ford Credit FPV Falcon he raced at Perth, the team electing to hold the debut of his new BA Falcon V8 Supercar until after the forthcoming test days.
Recently announced FPR endurance race co-driver, Alain Menu, will also be making the trip to Queensland Raceway fresh from his fourth placed GT Class effort with the Prodrive Ferrari 550 team at the Le Mans 24 Hour.
#6 Craig Lowndes - "I am particularly looking forward to getting back into the longer race mode here in Queensland. I enjoy the (almost) 300 kilometre format more compared to sprint racing. This is really my home race now and I will have lots of friends and family there, so I am looking forward to starting FPR's mid season charge with a top Queensland result."
#5 Glenn Seton - "As we are only one of two Ford V8 Supercar teams that don't test at Queensland Raceway, the start to the weekend may be a bit tough for us.
Considering how well balanced our cars have been straight out of the pit garage at the last two rounds, we shouldn't take too long to get up to speed. We head to Willowbank with a new lease of life with our engines which should provide some much needed reliability. Racing in a 280 kilometre enduro as opposed to the sprint formatted races could be good for us."
FPR Chief Engineer, John Russell - "We head to Queensland after having done the most possible with our engines in the time that we had. The team has worked solidly to assemble a package that is planned to be reliable and competitive for this enduro style of race. We know that we have two well balanced cars and by improving our reliability we hope to come away from Queensland Raceway with some valuable points."
The V8 Supercars head to the track for the opening practice sesson at 2:30pm on Friday, with qualifying taking place on Saturday at 1:30pm followed by the top ten shoot out at 4:15pm. The 90 lap race gets underway on Sunday at 1:45pm.
FPR QUEENSLAND RACEWAY FACT FILE
Craig Lowndes is V8 Supercar's most successful driver at Queensland Raceway, scoring podiums at four of his seven visits to the track - a top three strike- rate of better than 50 per cent. This tally of podiums includes back-to-back wins in 2000 when the Willowbank circuit hosted two championship rounds.
2004 is the 20th anniversary of Glenn Seton's Australian Touring Car Championship debut, which was also in Queensland, at the now defunct Surfers Paradise circuit in a Ford Capri in May 1984. This will be the Ford Credit FPV Falcon driver's 181st Championship round start.
The 2004 Queensland 300 is the first event in Glenn Seton's new home state since the New South Wales native and long-time Victorian resident moved to the sunshine state early this year.
The Australian Touring Car Championship / V8 Supercars has a long history in Queensland with five circuits having hosted rounds of the nation's premier racing Championship - Lowood, Lakeside, Surfers Paradise International Raceway, the Surfers Paradise 'Indy' street circuit and Queensland Raceway.
Queensland Raceway has taken over Lakeside's mantle of the home of circuit racing in Queensland. Lowndes and Seton are the only current team pairing who can boast victories at Lakeside. Seton won at the Brisbane circuit in 1995, with Lowndes victorious in the following year.
Queensland Raceway's round should see Craig's "The Kid" nickname finally put to rest, as it's the first V8 Supercar meeting for him as a '30-something'.
Lowndes turned 30 on June 21.
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