FPR Celebrates First Birthday At The Grand Prix
2/3/2004 16:50 (Press Release) -
Ford Performance Racing (FPR) caps off a truly momentous week
in the history of this young blue oval V8 Supercar team with this weekend's
Netspace V8 Supercar Challenge races at the 2004 Fosters Australian Grand Prix
in Melbourne.
This event marks this major Ford V8 Supercar team's first birthday and follows
the frantic pace of the team's pre season promotional activities that included
a completely new livery launch, and the official opening of the team's state of
the art race headquarters in Campbellfield last Sunday, which attracted
approximately 10,000 Ford fans.
The immense job of fitting out and moving into the team's new headquarters
while re-engineering the team's BA Falcon V8 Supercars during the summer has
taken its toll on the team's ability to test before this 2004 curtain raiser.
Although the three Grand Prix V8 Supercar showcase races do not form a part of
the V8 Supercar Championship series, without the benefit of a pre-race test FPR
is prepared for a great deal of hard work ahead in order to be competitive on
the fast 5.3 kilometre Albert Park Grand Prix circuit.
FPR's new two BA Falcon V8 Supercar line up for 2004 will take to the Albert
Park Grand Prix circuit for the first time this Thursday for a busy opening
day. Champion drivers Craig Lowndes (CAT FPR Falcon) and Glenn Seton (Ford
Credit FPV Falcon) will practice and qualify for the chance to compete in
the first Grand Prix Top Ten Shootout, taking place at the end of the day.
The bumper V8 Supercar field will then compete in one race each day on Friday,
Saturday and Sunday.
The CAT FPR Falcon being driven by triple V8 Supercar Champion and 1999 Albert
Park V8 Supercar event winner Craig Lowndes will debut in its full 2004
specification, featuring a host of detailed engineering changes over the 2003
configuration.
The Ford Credit FPV Falcon belonging to 1996 Albert Park V8 Supercar event
winner Glenn Seton will be racing in its 2003 configuration at this event,
enabling the team to assess vital back to back performance data during the
weekend.
#6 Craig Lowndes - "I've had some ups and downs at the Grand Prix and I'd like
to change those fortunes around as it has been a while between wins at Albert
Park. It will be a bit of a tall order with an untested and fully re-designed
car, but together with our race engineers we will make the most of it and learn
much more for the season ahead. This isn't all that different to last year at
the Grand Prix, where we were a definite top ten package with a brand new car
that had only very limited testing miles."
#5 Glenn Seton - "I always enjoy racing at Albert Park as I won the first V8
Supercar race held there and it is a great event to kick off our racing for
2004. I have been eager to race again during the summer and although we missed
our opportunity to test before this event, we will make the most of it to
assist in developing our cars for the long season ahead. There is no doubt that
it will be a competitive weekend and I'm looking forward to it."
FPR Chief Engineer, John Russell - "We have a tough weekend ahead of us, but I
am sure that everyone is eager to see how the field competes at this pre-season
opener. We had a successful debut with the 2003 car last year and we hope to
emulate that with our 2004 challengers."
The three Netspace V8 Supercar Challenge races at the Grand Prix will take
place at 3:25pm Friday, 4:00pm Saturday and 10:37am Sunday.
FPR GRAND PRIX FACT FILE.
- FPR celebrates the team's first birthday at Albert Park, when the team begins
its second season of competition.
- In the last 15 races on the Albert Park circuit (over the last 5 years),
Craig Lowndes has finished in the top 5 on 11 occasions, including three race
victories.
- V8 Supercars will race once daily at the AGP from Friday to Sunday, over 10
laps, 19 laps, and 10 laps respectively. Thursday will see practice, qualifying
and a top 10 shootout. 2004 is the first time a shootout will be held at a V8
Supercar Grand Prix support race.
- 2004 is the ninth consecutive year of the Ford Credit company's sponsorship
association with Glenn Seton. This is the longest running sponsorship, outside
of car manufacturer support, of any driver currently competing in V8 Supercars.
- Glenn Seton was the first ever winner of a V8 Supercar race at Albert Park,
in 1996, aboard an EF Falcon.
- 2004 represents the 21st year in which Glenn Seton has raced in Australia' s
premier category, thus becoming the field's most experienced touring car
campaigner. (NB he made his touring car debut in 1983, but did not compete in
1985.)
Release Date: 2/03/2004
Ford Performance Racing
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