FRONT ROW FPR DEBUT FOR JASON BRIGHT - RITTER 12TH
17/3/2005 18:05 (Press Release) -
Ford Performance Racing (FPR) driver Jason Bright qualified
second in today's Australian Grand Prix V8 Supercar qualifying session in
Melbourne. Bright's team mate Greg Ritter qualified his brand new Ford Credit
FPV Falcon 12th after a highly impressive first day at the Albert Park circuit.
Bright was in the top three throughout most of the hectic 20 minute qualifying
session which was held in warm and sunny conditions. A fast final lap lunge for
Pole position saw Bright spin off the circuit, as did team mate Ritter and
Holden rival Mark Skaife in their efforts to gain higher starting spots for
Friday's opening 10 lap race.
This strong team result followed the morning's single 30 minute practice
session that saw Ritter debut his new and completely untested car to 16th
overall, while Bright was 9th fastest. Pole position went to Holden driver Todd
Kelly (1:57.7480s), 5/100ths of a second ahead of Bright (1:57.8007s) with Mark
Skaife (Holden) third (1:57.8054s).
#6 Jason Bright - "I was reasonably confident coming here after our test this
week but we struggled with the car in practice more than I thought we would. We
made quite a few changes for qualifying and I was very happy with what we
developed. I am sure that we can make more improvements overnight to give us a
pretty good race car for tomorrow."
#5 Greg Ritter - "The qualifying session was only the second time that this car
has been driven on a circuit and we have achieved a fantastic result
considering this. To be so competitive straught out of the gate is very
encouraging for the season ahead. The car was pretty good - but being so new it
has a few issues that we haven't sorted yet, so I am sure that there is some
more speed to come."
FPR Chief Engineer, Phil Keed - "A fantastic first day here at the Grand Prix,
particularly with the new car - to finish both sessions in such a competitive
manner with a completely untested car is almost unheard of. The result for car
6 was just fantastic - we missed out on pole by a very small margin and we
believe that there is a lot more to come from both cars."
FPR returns to Melbourne's Albert Park Grand Prix circuit for the first of
three V8 Supercar non-Championship races scheduled to start at 3:30pm.
Release Date: 03/03/2005
Ford Performance Racing
|
|
