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November 16, 2007 - Ford Performance Racing drivers Mark Winterbottom and Steve Richards have set the first and third fastest lap times of today's two and a half hours of opening practice for Round 13 of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series at Tasmania's Symmons Plains Raceway.
Orrcon Ford Credit FPR Falcon driver Winterbottom set a practice record shattering lap time of 51.6085s, the fastest ever Touring Car lap of the 2.4 kilometre Launceston circuit. Castrol FPR Falcon driver Richards was in top form throughout practice, leading most of the second hour with his fastest lap time just 4/10ths of a second behind his team mate to take the third spot behind Holden rival Garth Tander, his best lap time being 3/10ths of a second behind Winterbottom.
The practice sessions were held in warm and sunny conditions with several drivers running off the circuit, including both FPR Falcon drivers, as they attempted to improve their practice lap times. The top 19 cars were separated by less than one second, foreboding a very close fight during tomorrow's qualifying session which takes place at 11:30am, followed by the first of three 50 lap
races to take place at 3:15pm.
#5 Mark Winterbottom - "The car is obviously very strong, nice to drive and it was a good quick lap. I feel even better about it knowing that it’s the fastest that anyone has gone here in a Touring Car. The left front tyre had a lot of build-up on it and there was a vibration there throughout the sessions. I knew that once we fitted better tyres close to the end of practice that we would improve substantially and that is what happened. We were still quick enough early on and it was good to be faster by the closing stages. The track felt good today, similar to last year and I believe that there is still some more pace in the car yet.
#6 Steve Richards - "The car felt great today, both FPR Falcons were very strong during practice and this is a great position to be in so early in the weekend. The car is definitely good enough to gain Pole position and if I can get it right by making the most out of my new tyres, we can be at the front tomorrow. I didn't do the best job on my second set of tyres today and I have to stop making mistakes like that for qualifying tomorrow in order to be on the front row."
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