Strong Debut For WPS Racing
20/3/2004 20:29 (Press Release) -
David Besnard made the series debut of WPS Racing a day to remember when he piloted the team’s Ford Falcon from 26th on the grid to an 18th place finish in the first race of the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide today.
The promising debut came despite the team losing three laps on the race leaders after being forced to make an early and unscheduled visit to the pits after the car’s gears jammed.
Besnard was on the charge and had climbed into 18th place when the incident occurred.
The incident put the car into the pits for about five minutes while the team repaired the problem.
A similar problem occurred later in the race and was again repaired during the team’s second pit stop.
“I feel like we just won Bathurst,” said team owner Craig Gore.
“To finish in 18th place and ahead of some highly professional and experienced teams in this, our series debut, is just a brilliant start.
“We are only just getting to know this car so today’s result is a significant achievement.
“Our team gelled, our car was fast and we drove a great race.”
The result came after the morning session in which the WPS Racing team tested a series of changes to the car set up.
Co-team manager Keith Evers said the changes were part of the continual testing that any new team must undergo.
“We are still learning about the car and we will make continual adjustments to assess the impact on performance,” said Evers.
“Our set up for today’s race showed we are on the right track and we are building up to some great results.”
Besnard praised his team after the first race and said he was looking forward to the next start.
“We nailed a good set up for the race and now understand what the car needs,” said Besnard.
“It was great to finish well in the first race even though we had a freak gearbox incident.
“Without that problem we were a good shot today at a top 10 finish, which is an exceptional effort for a new team.”
Release Date: 20/03/2004
WPS Racing
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