The roar returns during testing

Testing for the 2009 XXXX Gold / Telstra Big Pond Supercar Championship has finally begun in Victoria after a long wait amidst the economic crisis. The seven Victorian V8 Supercars teams (1 Ford, 6 Holden) all took different approaches to the first official test day for 2009 at Winton Raceway this week.

After a slight setback at a recent shakedown for the new FG Falcons, Ford Performance Racing drivers Steve Richards and Mark Winterbottom set the pace for most of the afternoon, decimating their Holden Rivals.

Last year’s Championship runner-up, Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom posted the fastest official lap time of 1min 24.1057, while teammate Steve Richards posted a time only two-10ths slower (1min 24.3410) for the fourth quickest official time of the day.

FPR said that both its drivers posted times even quicker than the ones that were officially recorded during a period where the timing systems at Winton were temporarily out of commission.

FPR said the quickest, but unofficial lap, for Winterbottom was actually 1min 23.74sec and Richards was 1min 23.88sec. The quick laps were a far cry from a shakedown of the new FG Falcons at Winton last week, when Richards’ car could not complete the maximum 20 laps allowed because of an oil tank issue.

“We’ve been doing a lot of house keeping with the oil system and different components of the car… not as much tuning as Frosty did with his car, but I’m very pleased,” Richards said.

“We’re not going any faster than we were in the BF, but it does feel a bit different.

“The car seems to have good synergy; it turns in nicely and comes out of the corner with good linear throttle.”

Winterbottom believes that his new FG Falcon will look after its tyres better than its predecessor.

“The times I banged out in the last session on old tyres were pretty good,” he said.

“I think we’ve made that a lot better by improving little things, which will be good especially with the new format of racing this year.”

Will Davison, who this morning took his first ever drive in the Holden Racing Team VE Commodore, spent the morning getting used to the change from a Ford to a Holden and admitted he was anxious in the lead up to his first drive.

“I was probably more nervous going into today than for a normal race meeting because it’s a pretty big deal,” Davidson said. “It was pretty exciting going through pit lane the first time; it was a really good feeling.”

Both he and fellow HRT driver, Garth Tander, will take part in a second test day at Winton tomorrow (Tuesday).

WOW Racing’s Cameron McConville showed some great pace setting the official second fastest time of 1:24.31, but his new teammate admitted he was struggling in his new BOC Gas and Supply Commodore, managing only the 12 fastest time of the day.

The test day also introduced changes in team set up with engineer Wally Storey moving from WOW Racing to Team BOC to rejoin a previous partnership with Jason Richards and Matt Boniface returning to a lead engineering role taking over Cameron McConville’s WOW Racing No 14 VE Commodore.

Australia’s newest race team, Kelly Racing, rolled out their new Jack Daniel’s Racing and the new Dodo car for Jack Perkins in anger for the first time.

Upbeat about a successful shakedown, both brothers were very pleased with their day’s work, with no major problems to report from both cars and each entry finishing the day in the top half of the field.

Rick Kelly finished the day in fifth place on the timesheets in the #15 Jack Daniel’s Racing Holden Commodore, with Todd in eighth place in the #7 after a full day of testing and set-up work on the brand new black

“It’s been a very busy few months for everyone involved in Kelly Racing but to have two brand new Jack Daniel’s Commodores take to the track and not have any problems or dramas all day is a great reward for all that hard work,” said Todd Kelly.

Garry Rogers Motorsport drivers Lee Holdsworth and Michael Caruso were consistently quick throughout the day along with 2007 V8 Supercar Champion Garth Tander from Holden Racing Team.

The new look Sprint Gas Racing didn’t even turn on the timing monitors, instead deciding to focus on getting the cars to their maximum potential and making the drivers comfortable.

Some Fujitsu teams were also in attendance at the test. V8 Ute Champion and Current Fujitsu Series driver, Marcus Zukanovic, injured his right leg in a crash during the morning near turn 11. Zukanovic received multiple leg fractures when he missed the second-last corner and collided with a safety barrier. The crash has been diagnosed as a mechanical failure.

Walkinshaw Performance also made an appearance, quietly sitting their two cars mid field on the sheets.

The test was not without some issues. Turn 5 at Winton proved to be too much for some drivers at times, with many of them sliding to the infield.

About 6000 fans attended the test day at Winton and more than $17,000 in gate takings was raised for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal.

The action heads to Queensland Raceway on Wednesday for the Queensland-based teams’ test day, with all proceeds from the day going to the Queensland Flood Appeal.