Jim Beam Racing News
Jim Beam Racing experience mixed fortune in Race 5 at Winton
02 May 2009
It was a day of mixed emotions and fortune for Jim Beam Racing during Qualifying and Race 5 at Winton Raceway today. The day began well with Qualifying, with both FG’s keeping pace with the front runners.
Courtney took the #18 through its paces and waited until the final lap of qualifying to carry home his 5th position for the Top Ten Shootout. Johnson showed great pace at the beginning of the session and continued to maintain consistency with #17 across the session. Johnson also recorded his fastest lap at the end of the session, but it was unfortunately not quick enough to haul him through to the Top Ten shoot out. Johnson was to start 13th on grid for Race 5.
Courtney’s appearance in the Top Ten Shoot Out was next on the agenda and the #18 did not disappoint. With a blistering run through to place him on the 4th line of the grid, Courtney’s podium chances were once again on track.
Lining up for Race 5 the team was confident that Johnson could move through the pack and Courtney could keep pace. Both drivers got a great start off the line, maintaining position for as long as possible. Lap 2 saw Courtney pit for fuel and tyres and the new soft compound (softs), known for giving a car extra pace, were sent on the track.
Consistent 1min 23 sec lap times across quite a few laps showed that the #18 had the pace, but unfortunately a mechanical issue forced Courtney into the pits with what was assumed to be a puncture in the Soft Compound tyre. After further investigation the car was wheeled back into the garage with Courtney earning a DNF for his trouble.
“Look the car was fine, it is just an unfortunate thing”, exclaimed a glum Courtney, “We had a mechanical failure of sorts, nothing earth shattering, but enough to stop us from continuing”. “The car was great up until then, and had great speed on the softs, we’ll just work overnight to make sure that the car is ready to do battle again in the morning”.
Johnson, starting from 13th position on the grid, stuck with the team’s strategy of pace and persistence. The crew decided to keep the #17 out on the track on the hard compound tyres – and given the chance to pit half way through the race, decided to conserve the faster soft compound for tomorrow’s race.
“I had the pace, and was keeping up with a few of them even on the hard tyres. I managed to keep a few of them out for about 1 ½ laps there at one stage”, said Johnson, “but those soft tyres are quick, it got to the stage where in the end I had guys who had new soft’s on going past me like I was standing still. I still had a few guys behind me who were running on the soft compound so just shows the pace the car has on the hard tyres. Whilst we may not be the fastest we have a brand new set of soft’s to run with tomorrow – then it will be our turn. Today went to plan and Rowdy’s [#17 Engineer Mark Fenning] strategy put us in a great position”.
Johnson finished in 12th position, ahead of his start grid position and ahead of other teams who had chosen to run with their soft compound tyres for today’s race. Courtney’s DNF will leave the team even more determined to ensure that the car is 100% combat ready for Race 6 tomorrow.
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