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There has been no time for rest for the
defending Desert 400 Champion V8 Supercar team Ford Performance Racing (FPR)
since returning from the chaos of Round 11 on the streets of Surfers Paradise
last weekend.
After
racing strongly at the Bathurst 1000 and at the Gold Coast Indy 300 within a two
week timeframe, the Desert 400 being held next weekend (Nov 1-3) at the
spectacular Bahrain International Circuit comes next, requiring an around the
clock effort by the FPR crew of mechanics, technicians, engineers and
fabricators to ensure that the team arrives in Bahrain ready to defend its
Desert 400 title in strong style.
“To say
that it has been an extremely busy period for us over the last few weeks would
be a massive understatement," FPR Team Manager, Chris O'Toole
said.
At the
completion of the final race at Surfers Paradise, O'Toole and his crew packed
the FPR B-Double transporter before it headed south to FPR's technical
headquarters in Melbourne with two drivers on board to cover the 2,000 kilometre
drive in as short a timeframe as possible.
"A group
of mechanics then started work at 6:30pm on Monday night to unload the
transporter and strip the cars back. By midnight, Winterbottom's car had been
stripped and at 3:00am Tuesday the fabricators went back to work to repair the
damage on the car. The other issue was the number of panels that we damaged over
the weekend, we had all but run out of spares after the three Surfers Paradise
street races. So over the past three days we've had two panel shops working 24
hours a day on painting panels, doors and bumpers for us," the FPR Team Manager
added.
The usual
challenge for the Desert 400 race is selecting what the team takes from their
usual 40 plus tonne of spares and equipment that usually travels to all races in
the team’s massive B-Double transporter. Only the bare essentials can make the
trip to the Middle East, with two 3.5 tonne capacity air containers being all
that the team is able to take to this round. Knowing exactly what to take has
become something of a well learned art at FPR over the
years.
"This is
the sixth time that we have competed at a fly-away event like this and over the
years we have developed easier ways of packing our tools, equipment and
essential spares to ensure that when we arrive in Bahrain, everything is
organised and easy to work with. Above all else, we need to ensure that we have
everything that we need to get the job done. This year is the first time that we
have had to do it after such a panel crunching round like we endured at the Gold
Coast last weekend," O'Toole said.
All
preparation work on Steve Richards’ Castrol FPR Falcon and Mark Winterbottom’s
Orrcon Ford Credit FPR Falcon was completed on Friday evening ahead of the
9:00am Saturday (Oct. 27) morning delivery to Melbourne’s Avalon Airport for
loading onto a specially equipped Boeing 747 Freighter.
FPR is
looking forward to returning to Bahrain, where the Prodrive team raced to a
memorable round victory after a consistently strong performance in the three
Desert 400 sprint races last year. The fast and flowing circuit layout suits the FPR Falcons which are
considerably faster this season in comparison to 2006.
Orrcon
Ford Credit FPR Falcon driver Mark Winterbottom heads to Bahrain this year as
the V8 Supercar pacesetter of the field. Frosty, (as he is known in Australia),
has been the fastest qualifier at two of the last three V8 Supercar rounds and
gained a best race finish of third at Bahrain in 2006, on his way to 11th
overall for the round.
Castrol
FPR Falcon driver Steve Richards heads to Bahrain as the most recent V8 Supercar
race winner after winning the third and final street race at Surfers Paradise.
The victory was set-up by an outstanding charge from 25th to fifth in race two
on Sunday morning - along with a dominant display of car speed to win the final
heat. The highly experienced driver finished fifth overall in Bahrain last
year.
Strong
car speed will be important at the Desert 400 with the FPR Falcons reaching 270
kph at the end of the long Bahrain International Circuit main straight, which
leads directly into a hairpin corner.
Round 12
features a unique Thursday to Saturday practice, qualifying and racing schedule,
due to the Bahraini weekend. All the action will be televised on the Seven
Network across Australia on Friday and Saturday nights along with a round
wrap-up on Sunday afternoon.
#6
Steve Richards - “This is a different round with a very unique atmosphere. It is a
brilliantly engineered racing circuit and FPR was very strong there last year.
The team is heading to Bahrain
in the best form possible and it is shaping up to be an enjoyable and exciting
trip for us. The last four rounds of the Championship have been very good for
the team, finishing on the podium twice, competing strongly at Bathurst and a
race victory at Indy on the Gold Coast, not to mention a couple of pole
positions. Full credit must go to FPR for providing both Frosty and I with such
competitive equipment, particularly with the tight constraints of the
Championship at this part of the
season.”
#5
Mark Winterbottom - “We have come close to winning rounds this year but
things haven’t worked out for one reason or the other. I see no reason why FPR
cannot take back to back Desert 400 victories and that is our goal for the
round. We have impressive car speed and this circuit is particularly good for
our cars, so I am looking forward to a fantastic Bahrain V8 Supercar round this
weekend.”
FPR
Team Principal, Tim Edwards - “The team has worked around the clock to
ensure that we head to the Middle East in the strongest form possible after the
dramas that both our cars were caught up in at Surfers Paradise last weekend. We
are racing to win this round and remain confident of continuing our strong form
all the way through to the end of the season.”
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