DRAMATIC SERIES OPENER FOR BRIGHT & RITTER
13/4/2005 18:06 (Press Release) -
Saturday's opening 78 lap leg of the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide
proved to be an eventful one for Ford Performance Racing (FPR) drivers Jason
Bright and Greg Ritter.
Bright started his CAT FPR Falcon from 10th on the grid and after making his
compulsory tyre (lap 9) and fuel (lap 45) pit stops he was well placed to start
working his way towards the top ten after racing as high as 6th position, he
pitted for a third and final tyre stop on lap 53 with 25 laps remaining. On the
69th lap and while in 11th position, Bright's front spoiler detached and
slipped under his front tyres, causing the car to skate off the circuit and
into a tyrewall. Bright managed to re-join the race without a front spoiler and
down in 18th position, but on the last lap he was hit from behind by Holden
driver Paul Dumbrell who knocked the FPR driver into Cameron McConville
(Holden), causing a three way accident. All three drivers finished the final
lap, Bright greeting the chequered flag in 19th place.
Ford Credit FPV Falcon driver Greg Ritter started the race from 26th on the
grid and faced a major challenge to make up ground during the long and hot
Clipsal 500 first leg. After making strong progress through the field, Ritter
made his tyre (lap 22) and fuel (lap 46) pit stops, before racing his way into
the top five. On the 50th lap a rear axle component failure (watts linkage)
eliminated the new FPR driver from the race.
The first podium of the new season was an all Ford affair, with SBR driver and
double Champion Marcos Ambrose winning from his team mate Russell Ingall in
second place and Craig Lowndes third.
#6 Jason Bright - "That was a very frustrating race. First we couldn't stop on
the right fuel window like everyone else did, then we make a good call on new
tyres later in the race and the front splitter falls off, gets stuck under the
front tyres and forces me off the track. We didn't have the pace today and we
the only chance we had for a top five finish was with the new tyres. We will
work towards setting up a better car for tomorrow."
#5 Greg Ritter - "An unfortunate end to what was shaping up to be a good result
in my opinion. My car wasn't the fastest out there, but I was making good
progress through the field. You have to expect that things like this may happen
with such a new car and it is better to find out any potential weaknesses
sooner rather than later. The car was very good on its tyres and we will work
on improving it for tomorrow."
FPR Chief Engineer Phil Keed - "We were hampered in our race strategy by our
fuel consumption and we couldn't stop during the early safety car period when
we needed to. Jason managed to recover a reasonable finish given the
circumstances and for a while we were heading for a good result with green
tyres but something broke on the front splitter. Greg was making solid progress
until a failure in the rear axle ended his day."
FPR returns to the Adelaide Parklands Street Circuit for what is expected to be
another warm and exciting day, with the Clipsal 500 second leg scheduled to
start at 2:00pm. (2:30pm EST)
Release Date: 19/03/2005
Ford Performance Racing
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