BRIGHT SEVENTH IN WET AND DRY SECOND AGP V8 SUPERCAR RACE
7/4/2005 14:39 (Press Release) -
Ford Performance Racing (FPR) drivers Jason Bright and Greg
Ritter have finished 7th and 18th in today's GP 100 V8 Supercar race at
Melbourne's Albert Park Grand Prix circuit.
Saturday at Albert Park saw Melbourne's wildly fluctuating weather at its
worst, with intermittent heavy rain making it almost impossible to predict what
the conditions would be like over the 19 lap race. Confronted with a wet
circuit moments before the start of the race, FPR elected to send both the CAT
FPR Falcon and Ford Credit FPV Falcon out on wet weather tyres, in line with
the majority of the field.
Bright made the most out of a fantastic start to power from 5th on the grid to
3rd by turn one, but Marcos Ambrose sprinted past by the end of the opening lap
and Russell Ingall made his way past on the 5th lap. Bright remained 5th for
the next 11 laps, until the dry tyre-shod John Bowe powered past, folllowed by
his team mate Brad Jones.
Ford Credit FPV Falcon driver Ritter also got off to a fast start from 9th on
the grid but ran out of room to make it through turn one and was bumped into
the gravel trap. He re-joined the race at the rear of the field, recovering to
finish 18th.
Ford team Brad Jones Racing took the gamble of starting the race on dry tyres,
this strategy paying off spectacularly with an outstanding 1,2 finish for John
Bowe (1st) and Brad Jones with Holden driver Mark Skaife third. The race saw a
number of accidents and retirements, including yesterday's winner Todd Kelly
and both PWR team Commodores.
#6 Jason Bright - "The priority in these conditions is to bring the car back
straight, but it is obvious that we are not as comfortable with our car as
Ambrose and Skaife were in the varying circuit conditions, so I wasn't going to
mix it up with them too long as I was having enough trouble staying where I
was. I am hoping for a strong race in the dry tomorrow. Congratulations are in
order for John Bowe on a great victory, he and Brad took a major gamble and it
paid off very well today."
#5 Greg Ritter - "I got off the line quite well and I am not sure what happened
through the first corner, I copped a hit in the door and around it went - I was
in the wrong place at the wrong time. We have further improved the car and we
were able to make up some places through the field, but racing on a dry circuit
with wet tyres is like racing on simulated ball bearings."
FPR Chief Engineer Phil Keed - "A bit of bad luck at the start with Greg but he
did well to come back to 18th. Despite dropping back after a good start Jason
did well to finish in the lead group. Most importantly we finished another race
here with two straight cars. Hopefully tomorrow's race is dry so we can learn
some more before we head to Adelaide."
With early morning rain predicted tomorrow, all of the V8 Supercar teams will
be keeping an eye on the sky ahead of the final ten lap Grand Prix showcase
race starting at 11:20am.
Release Date: 05/03/2005
Ford Performance Racing
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