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SBR’S TYRES GET TIRED IN BAHRAIN

Topics: Desert 400 Bahrain

SBR’S TYRES GET TIRED IN BAHRAIN

Stone Brothers Racing
February 27, 2010

Stone Brothers Racing were unable to convert a front row start into a podium today when extreme tyre wear caused all three cars to experience fading pace in the race. As expected tyres played a major part on the abrasive track surface with lap times dropping off over 4 seconds towards the end of the 37 laps.

After starting from second on the grid, SP Tools Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen managed to salvage a 5th place finish while his teammates Alex Davison and Tim Slade finished in 18th and 21st respectively.

At the race start van Gisbergen was 3rd going into the first corner after FPR’s Mark Winterbottom got the jump at the green light. It was in the pit stops that positions were lost but the rapid wear on the tyres didn’t help when the #9 SP Tools Racing Falcon was unable to maintain the same pace as the race leaders.

It was a case of déjà vu for IRWIN Racing’s Alex Davison who had a repeat of his first lap dramas in Race 2 at Abu Dhabi when he was again involved in an incident on the opening lap as the field scrambled into position.

As a result of the incident the #4 IRWIN Racing Falcon suffered massive understeer and for the rest of the race was left with little grip and poor car balance.

Wilson Security Racing’s Tim Slade got off to a good start and was sitting in 15th at the races halfway point but the lack of traction cost him dearly towards the end of the race and in the end Slade was left with nothing to fight with.

Alex Davison – Driver, IRWIN Racing Car #4

“I got crashed into a couple of times on the first lap and from that point on the car was a real handful. I was hit from behind by a GRM car and it lifted the back of the car up which pushed me wide and then Dumbrell had spun out and hit me as he was going backwards.

“Once we got going again we had no pace and the car had diabolical understeer for the rest of the race and it meant I couldn’t brake late and carry any speed into the corners.

“When the car was already so far out of balance it made it very difficult to look after the tyres so they just dropped off at a rapid rate.

“We had quite a good car in qualifying earlier today and know where we were losing time. In hindsight we should have left the car that way and ran with it because it looked after its tyres quite well but in an attempt to make the car better we destroyed the balance of the car so we shouldn’t have messed with it.

“For tomorrow we will just go back to the qualifying setup and run with it.”

Shane van Gisbergen – Driver, SP Tools Racing Car #9

“Winterbottom got me on the start and I managed to hang in there with him for the first five or so laps but then the tyres went off so much and his didn’t. Most the guys around me were in the same boat for but the cars ahead were just really good on their tyres.

“We were four seconds a lap slower and were doing 11’s at one point which made it pretty hard, considering I qualified with a 2:04 so that’s a massive difference. It felt like I was on ice out there.

“The car is obviously good in qualifying so we have no problems there we just need to make sure the car looks after its tyres better, we were not far off the fastest lap in the race but we need to work on carrying that speed over the whole race.”

Tim Slade – Driver, Wilson Security Racing Car #47

“We got off to a reasonable start, we were running about mid pack for most of the race but we just ran out of tyres and grip towards the end there so we were way off and ended up back in 21st which is pretty disappointing.

“Obviously tonight we will work on getting the car to look after its tyres better, today was a learning curve so we will make up for it tomorrow.”

The V8 Supercars will take to the track tomorrow for Qualifying at 12:20pm before Race 2 of the Gulf Air Desert 400 at 3:35pm.

BIC DESERT 400, Race 1 (37 laps) – RESULTS

1 1 TeamVodafone/Jamie Whincup
2 5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon/Mark Winterbottom
3 888 TeamVodafone/Craig Lowndes
4 2 Toll Holden Racing Team/Garth Tander
5 9 SP Tools Racing/Shane van Gisbergen
6 18 Jim Beam Racing/James Courtney
7 39 Supercheap Auto Racing/Russell Ingall
8 22 Toll Holden Racing Team/Will Davison
9 15 Jack Daniels Racing/Rick Kelly
10 34 Fujitsu Racing / GRM/Michael Caruso
18 4 IRWIN Racing/Alex Davison
21 47 Wilson Security Racing/Tim Slade

BIC DESERT 400, Top Ten Shootout – RESULTS

1 1 TeamVodafone/Jamie Whincup 2:04.5189R
2 9 SP Tools Racing/Shane van Gisbergen 2:04.7601
3 5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon/Mark Winterbottom 2:04.8245r
4 2 Toll Holden Racing Team/Garth Tander 2:05.1780
5 18 Jim Beam Racing/James Courtney 2:05.2142
6 22 Toll Holden Racing Team/Will Davison 2:05.4901
7 6 Dunlop Super Dealer FPR Falcon Steven Richards 2:05.5247
8 888 TeamVodafone/Craig Lowndes 2:05.5945
9 51 Castrol Edge Racing/Greg Murphy 2:06.2238
10 39 Supercheap Auto Racing/Russell Ingall

BIC DESERT 400, Qualifying (20 mins) – RESULTS

1 1 TeamVodafone/Jamie Whincup 2:05.1657R
2 888 TeamVodafone/Craig Lowndes 2:05.4957
3 2 Toll Holden Racing Team/Garth Tander 2:05.5089
4 9 SP Tools Racing/Shane van Gisbergen 2:05.6061
5 51 Castrol Edge Racing/Greg Murphy 2:05.6877
6 39 Supercheap Auto Racing/Russell Ingall 2:05.7791
7 18 Jim Beam Racing/James Courtney 2:05.7921
8 5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon/Mark Winterbottom 2:05.8189
9 6 Dunlop Super Dealer FPR Falcon/Steven Richards 2:05.9267
10 22 Toll Holden Racing Team/Will Davison 2:06.0064
12 4 IRWIN Racing/Alex Davison 2:06.0384
19 47 Wilson Security Racing/Tim Slade 2 2:06.5954