BJR sound Sandown warning
10/9/2004 23:20 (Press Release) -
The Brad Jones Racing duo of Brad Jones and John Bowe have sent their strongest warning yet, with a commanding performance during today’s practice session of the Betta Electrical Sandown 500 in Melbourne.
The pair were positioned fifth after the opening session and then followed up with the second fastest time in the afternoon, giving them plenty of confidence heading into tomorrow’s all-important qualifying.
“The number 12 OzEmail Falcon is really good. It’s definitely a race winner. We you get to the endurance races, you need certain things to fall into place to win and we’ve got them,” said John Bowe.
A view shared by Brad Jones who set the second fastest time in practice two – “The car is as good as it’s been all year, which is very pleasing. We were one of only a few cars in the top ten that didn’t bolt on new tyres, so that says we’ve got a strong package.”
When asked about his chances in the 500 kilometre race on Sunday, Jones added – “To be honest, we now know we have a car good enough for at least a top three finish. I know it’s cliché but it’s a matter of staying out of trouble and we’ll be a real contender come the end of the race.”
Also impressing was the second OzEmail Falcon of Andrew Jones and John Cleland which spent most of the day inside the top 15. Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Champ, Jones particularly inspiring in the morning session.
“I’m reasonably happy. Unlike most of the other teams we shared the driving in the first practice session, mainly to give John [Cleland] some extra time in the car. We were chasing some more front grip, which the guys worked on and fixed for the second session. At this stage I’ll be qualifying the car tomorrow, so we’ll start to look at a set-up for that overnight, said Andrew Jones.”
John Cleland was a little disappointed with his performance today but was encouraged by the changes made by the BJR crew between the two practices.
“I didn’t get a lot of time in the car this morning and I was struggling with the same problems that Andrew had with grip and turn-in. I was experimenting a lot in the second session which really gave us some good improvements. The only problem was that the experimenting had me going off the black stuff a few too many times. We’ve got a good race car though, it’s certainly capable of being inside the top ten,” Cleland said.
The #21 OzEmail Falcon finishing the day in 20th position.
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