Jim Beam Racing News
Day 1 - Norton 360 Sandown Challenge
31 July 2009
Opening practice at the Norton 360 Sandown Challenge today saw the Team at Jim Beam Racing produce competitive lap times to set the Team up for a strong chance at qualifying for tomorrow's Race 13.
Practice is more than just "practice" for any V8 Supercar Team, but it can consistently set the standard for any V8 Supercar Team for the remainder of the race weekend.
Both James Courtney and Steven Johnson had a "mixed bag of tyres" left over from New Zealand and Townsville. At the end of the three practice sessions, Courtney sits in 4th fastest for the day and Johnson in 14th.
Coming off a strong performance at Townsville, the Team had some challenges with engine performance and tried some variations in set up to rectify the problem.
"Tomorrow we start racing" said Courtney after the end of practice session.
"The car was pretty good out of the box and we tried a few changes to get the car ready for this type of circuit. I am looking forward to getting out on some good tyres tomorrow".
Johnson agreed with his co-drivers views on tyres.
"We have some pretty rough tyres left over from New Zealand and Townsville so I cant wait to get out in qualifying", said Johnson.
Crimsafe Ford's Grant Denyer also had practice today and posted the 10th fastest time for the practice session.
"It was "okay" today but I know that both the car (and I) have the pace to be competitive in qualifying and Race 1 tomorrow.
Denyer hits the circuit for qualifying in a new 30 mins format tomorrow at 10.20am.
Sandown has been a strong circuit for Johnson, Courtney and Denyer.
The historic Sandown Motor Raceway is a circuit that has given DJR plenty of reasons to smile over the years, whether it is has been at Australian Touring Car/V8 Supercar Championship Series rounds or at the non-title Sandown 500 endurance races.
The 3.1 kilometre venue places a real premium on strong engines, however given the development in modern day V8 Supercar racing, having very good grip exiting the slow corners onto the long straights is deemed just as important.
Note: All statistics referred to are for Sandown ATCC/V8SCS events, which have differed in their race formats over the years. The Sandown 500 was a part of the championship from 2003 to 2007 but was not in the years prior to that.
DJR enjoyed brilliant success in those non-championship Sandown 500s, winning the race in 1994 and 1995 with Dick Johnson and John Bowe and taking pole position six times (1981, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992).
While Denyer may have had only one Fujitsu Series start at Sandown last year, he has made two starts in the V8 Supercar Championship Series in previous years at the fast circuit. In 2006 he teamed with Alex Davison for DJR to finish 14th in the Sandown 500 on his very first start in the V8SCS, while in 2007 he and Jason Bargwanna were forced to retire their WPS Falcon from the 500-kilometre endurance race
Both Johnson and Courtney get on track for the start of the three session qualifying at 11.00am.
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