Jim Beam Racing News

20 March 2009

Photos from the Clipsal 500

Jim Beam Racing launched into the 2009 season with a sturdy start to the Clipsal 500 today. After practice and qualifying sessions, James Courtney steering number 18 will start from 4th spot on the grid whilst Steven Johnson, who experienced some set up issues with certain corners during qualifying, will start from 12th.

Courtney spent practice going tit for tat with pole winner Whincup in the timing stakes, consistently leap frogging each other as the session drew on. Towards the end of the session Courtney was screaming through the lap when a mistake at turn 11 lost valuable lap time – and ended with Courtney taking out position 4 on the grid. “I was far more comfortable through the second session” explained Courtney, “I felt like the set up was almost perfect – just a couple more tweaks and I will be happy I have the race pace”.

Johnson had problems during qualifying with manoeuvring through the last corner, and found that this provided inconsistent final sector times. “We came across a few issues during qualifying that were relatively easy to fix. We have reviewed the car set up and are confident that the changes we made after qualifying will put us back on pace for the racing tomorrow”. Johnson consistently fast first sector times remain a testament to the set up of the car which has now been adjusted to connect with the circuit.

Steven will start from P12 on the grid, with Adrian Burgess promising that the #17 car  will have the race pace to match the front runners. “Steve had some great pace out there today,” explained Burgess, “He was on par  for P5 and was running through the same times as James at one stage.Tomorrow will show that we have corrected the issues and he will be up there with the front runners”.

Team owner Charlie Shwerkolt was happy with the way the day panned out. “We have great cars that have proven today, through various sessions, that they have  great race pace. It will all come together tomorrow as practice is about ironing out the creases and we believe we have managed to do that today".

Jim Beam Racing are back on this challenging Adelaide ciruit for race one tomorrow afternoon.

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