Walden's on the track and on target
11/9/2004 17:44 (Press Release) -
With both drivers recording sound results yesterday, Walden Motorsport is heading for a good weekend at Round 9 of the V8 Supercar Championship Series.
Before arriving in Melbourne the team outlined some clear goals for the Betta Electrical Sandown 500 and, with both drivers finishing within 107% of the top times in the two practice sessions, plans currently running to schedule.
Team Manager Brian Walden said, “We’re not here to set the world on fire… [But] with these times we’re not starting behind the eight ball this weekend”.
Team Driver Garth Walden had the task of taking on a field of ‘A’ drivers in the morning practice and finished almost a whole second inside the 107%, even with both of the Stone Brothers Racing cars running in laps quicker than the previous practice record.
“We had a few mechanical problems at Oran Park, but we’ve worked hard in the last few weeks to identify any potential problems, and with the new problems installed it should run well this weekend,” said Garth Walden.
Bettering his team-mate’s fastest lap time from the morning session, Walden Motorsport’s Co-Driver Grant Elliott displayed great adaptability for his first outing in the team’s AU Falcon.
Grant, who campaigned a VX Commodore to 9th in the 2004 Konica Minolta Series, recorded a 1:13.9909 to be less than 2.4 seconds behind the lead set by Kmart Racing’s Rick Kelly during the co-drivers’ practice session, finishing in 28th position.
“The last time I raced a Falcon was at Bathurst last year, so I knew this would be an interesting challenge,” said Grant.
“I might have been a little down on the power out there for my laps in the first session, but the car is handling really well, turning in nicely, but I think there is still some room for improvement.”
With comments over the past few weeks questioning their ability and their entrance into the competition, Walden Motorsport is confident that their performances this weekend will work to silence some of their critics.
“Stepping into the franchise the way we have, we sort of expected people to write us off…we’ve had some rewarding results so far, especially here today, and hopefully people will start to realise that we’re here to race, and that’s what we’re going to do,” said Brian Walden.
“Winning rounds like these are just bonuses…just being there at the end is the important thing”.
Round 9 of the 2004 V8 Supercar Championship continues today with a final practice session in the morning, qualifying in the early afternoon and the 500 kilometre race commencing at 1:00pm on Sunday.
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