FPR DRIVERS 15TH & 21ST IN NEW ZEALAND QUALIFYING
1/5/2004 6:28 (Press Release) -
Ford Performance Racing (FPR) drivers Glenn Seton and Craig
Lowndes have qualified 15th and 21st for the first of three New Zealand V8
Supercar races at Auckland's Pukekohe Park Raceway tomorrow. (Saturday May 1)
Seton progressed solidly throughout the day's practice sessions, working his
way to 8th fastest in the second session. The qualifying session saw the Ford
Credit FPV Falcon driver set the 15th fastest lap time (57.0829s), missing out
on a top ten shootout spot by less than two tenths of a second.
It was a difficult day for CAT FPR Falcon driver Lowndes, who lost most of the
entire opening practice session with a gearbox problem. The lost track time
proved costly in terms of finding more car speed at this fast and bumpy 2.8
kilometre circuit. Lowndes qualified 21st out of the 32 car field with a best
lap time of 57.4761s.
Today's timesheets were headed by Holden driver Jason Bright (56.3655s) with
Ford's Marcos Ambrose second (56.6062s) and Holden driver Mark Skaife third
(56.6209s).
#5 Glenn Seton - "The car was very good to drive and just like everyone in the
field we have been chasing the best way to deal with the bump in turn six along
with other parts of the circuit that make the car unstable. Overall the car is
very well balanced, it has great traction and the brakes are the best that they
have ever been, so as a race car package I feel very confident that we can push
it hard all the way tomorrow and Sunday. Our qualifying set up is what we need
to work on."
#6 Craig Lowndes - "There are a few areas where we have to do some more set up
work with the car, as it isn't handling the bumps very well. We are also
lacking significant car speed and this is critical here. We lost a heap of time
with our gearbox during this morning's practice session and we haven't caught
up in time for qualifying. We will work on a series of changes overnight to
improve the car for tomorrow's opening race."
FPR Chief Engineer, John Russell - "I am disappointed for Glenn as he came so
close to making the top ten today. He and his engineer worked well to improve
the car throughout the day. We suffered a set back this morning with a gearbox
installation problem which forced us to play catch up in the following practice
session, which is why we didn't have a clever car for qualifying. Craig did the
best that he could with it."
FPR returns to the track for the first of three Pukekohe V8 Supercar races at
2:35pm (12:35pm EST) tomorrow.
Release Date: 30/04/2004
Ford Performance Racing
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