SLADE LEADS WAY FOR SBR AT HIDDEN VALLEY

Topics:  Skycity Triple Crown, Tim Slade

Stone Brothers Racing
June 17, 2011

#47 Lucky 7 Racing driver Tim Slade once again led the Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) charge during practice this afternoon, in the lead up to this weekend’s Skycity Triple Crown at Hidden Valley Raceway.

#47 Lucky 7 Racing driver Tim Slade once again led the Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) charge during practice this afternoon, in the lead up to this weekend’s Skycity Triple Crown at Hidden Valley Raceway.

In fantastic Darwin sunshine, Slade was second fastest after today’s four practice sessions, with his teammates Shane van Gisbergen and Alex Davison fourth and 22nd respectively.

Slade was on the pace all day, never venturing outside the top five for long, and is hoping to continue his good form into qualifying tomorrow.

Eligible for just two practice sessions, Van Gisbergen in the #9 SP Tools Racing Falcon also had a good day, and is confident there is more left in him and his Falcon this weekend.

But while Slade and van Gisbergen were all smiles after today’s sessions, #9 IRWIN Racing driver Alex Davison’s facial expression was a little more drab, after struggling to get the most out of his car in his two 30-minute sessions due to a brake issue – but as he has done at recent events, is expected to bounce back tomorrow after some changes overnight.

The SBR Falcons return to the track tomorrow morning at 11.20am for a 20-minute Qualifying session, followed by the Top Ten Shootout at 12.20pm and race one at 3.35pm.*(all times Central Australian Time)

Tim Slade – Driver, Lucky 7 Racing Car #47

“Having the two extra practice sessions is definitely a benefit to getting to where we are today. We had a pretty long list of things to get through in our program today and being able to concentrate on getting them done without having to rush through it certainly makes a difference. Now we just have to make sure we carry over our form into qualifying tomorrow – we have a pretty good book to work from and are following our direction from last year and so far everything is going to plan.”

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

“The first session today we ran through our program and concentrated on getting the car up to speed for the second session. We were reasonably competitive towards the end so we knew we were headed in the right direction. In the final session we did a qualifying run on green tyres and were only a few tenths off the leaders - which was a combination of me and the car being out a little bit - so after a quick chat with my engineer Paul (Forgie) the word is there are no major issues and we‘ll sleep well tonight.”

Alex Davison – Driver, IRWIN Racing Car #4

“We had a bit of an issue with the brakes today which cost us a bit of time and put us further down the order than we’d like. We know we are better than 22nd. We struggled to get the IRWIN Ford handling like we need it to. We aren’t quite on top of things yet and have a bit of work to do to get the car going better in these really low grip conditions. It's not working for us at the moment but we'll get it going better and look forward to qualifying tomorrow. It’s been a frustrating afternoon but we can improve in time for qualifying.”