The Newly Expanded Four-Car Team Focus on Set Up at Sandown Test Day

11-Feb-2012

Sandown Raceway turned on its best 'Melbourne weather' for the V8 Supercars pre-season testing today, with patches of blinding sun and torrential rain.

The morning session saw new recruit, Dean Fiore, driving car 12 for Jim Beam Racing in his first run in a DJR prepared car, step up into 3rd position.

The team used the first session of the day to test several different car set ups, all of which were affected by the vastly different cool and warm, wet and dry conditions.

Steve Johnson's Jim Beam Black Falcon underwent the most significant set up changes which meant he only managed 10 laps, but still pushed up into 18th.

James Moffat, driving his newly branded Norton car, ended the 3 hour session in 17th. Steve Owen underwent a steep learning curve in his first run with his new team in a DJR Ford. The team were happy with the productive morning for car 49, completing the session in 19th.

After the one hour public grid walk at lunch, the team headed back out in sunny conditions. Steve Johnson led the four-car team onto the track, firing off a P1 in the first few laps. The weather turned once again, and the drivers who had been quick in the sunshine headed into the pits.

The weather cleared and Moffat stepped up and set a quick time, catapulting into 1st place. After a showery hour and a half of the second session, Moffat was still in P1 whilst Johnson remained in the top 10. Owen was up to 15th, whist Fiore was yet to head out onto the track, with his car undergoing further set up changes.

The first test day of 2012 ended in bright sunshine with the DJR drivers only separated by 0.2 second, just one car length. They finished; 9th (Steve Owen), 12th (James Moffat), 14th (Dean Fiore) and 16th (Steve Johnson).

All four cars were frequent visitors to the DJR pit garages throughout the day. The overall aim of testing for the team was to experiment with different car set ups using the different tyre compounds available for the 2012 Season and not finishing position.

The team were pleased with the consistency of the cars and how the dynamics of the newly expanded team worked.

The first race of the 2012 V8 Supercar Championship begins on Thursday 1st March at the Clipsal 500, Adelaide, South Australia. The new 2012 livery of the two Jim Beam Racing cars of Johnson and Fiore, will be unveiled on the eve of the event. All members of the 2012 Dick Johnson Racing Team Mates program will receive an exclusive preview of the new livery before it is revealed to the general public. You can join Team Mates here.

Your Comments

Please feel free to leave your comments below.

Pleasing Day today for all four cars.Look forward to Steve Owen getting used to the Ford, probably a 9.7 or 9.8 in car 49.Shall be an interesting and enjoyable season for DJR fans.

Hopefully Steven Johnson can be a contender & not just making up the numbers..Frm a one eyed DJR supporter..

Hope Paul Morris is assisting in the behind the scenes to gee up the drivers, give them a little mongrel to attack the races. C'mon Steve Johnson your year for the championship. Let's blow those red things off the road this year. from DJR fan for a long
time

paul morris is a part of the team not happy ,you can do it this year djr GO YOU GOOD THING

Steve Johnson needs to step up to the plate this year or take up a chair/desk in the office & let someone else with a bit more get up & go drive Number 17 to Victory. I’m sure the DJR Team as a whole are feeling little embarrassed with Steve Johnson’s
performance over the past decade. You need to make the hard decisions Dick & take Steve out of the driver’s seat if he’s not performing. It's Your Year DJR

IT WOULD BE GOOD TO SEE THE TEAM START STRONG AND STAY THERE THIS YEAR. COME ON STEVE THIS HAS TO BE YOUR YEAR.

only one driver can win the championship the rest finish last. who cares who comes second or second last 4 years ago, i have think who won. Just enjoy the field racing and a good sportsman like steve. i would not swap him for anyone, is victory everything
to you. Will you both Go away.

Steve is a top 5 driver in the championship. There are many reasons of which we are not privy to, and many that we know of such as Westpoint which dam near ended the team. Cash flow is important they do the best of all the teams with the amount of funding
available. I had a thought a few weeks ago, and it was very simple. If there were 500 team mates and each one was prepared to give $500 each,that would equate to 250K.Im sure that would help with results.

I had the same thought only I thought if all team mates tipped in say 100 bucks it would result in a simial amount, just a thought lets keep DJR in fords!!!

OK I WILL PUT MY $100 IN BEFORE FIRST PRACTICE AT CLIPSAL.

craig DAWICK NZ AS DICK ONCE SAID STICK IT UP ALL THEM HOLDENS PRAISE THE FORDS ITS OUR YEAR NOW IN 2012 ANY SINGLE FORD WOMAN OUT THERE NOW LIVING IN QLD GO DJR ALL THE BEST 2012

yes im looking forward to all the DJR cars doing well this year and repay a very loyal FORD supporter in dick johnson.GO FORD FOREVER.

steve j $400.000 K PER YEAR SHOULD BE SOME ??????? CHANGES bring more fresh blood in

Steve Johnson has never performed, he's there because of his name only. That's from a ford fan. As for embarassment- Dick Johnson has been a hard done by, have a cry, winger all his career, shouldn't ever be associated with likes of Moffat, Brock, Skaife,
Seton. One pretender isn't going to notice or care if his son is a pretender aswell. Support one of the real teams, not this hard luck, got no money wingy team- one that doesn't comment- just does the racing!

Jimmy, your a troll, head back under your bridge and wait for the goats.

Lango, that should be you're a troll. you should have gone to school! that's probably why you can't understand my objective opinion. And lets just see where Steve ends up this season.

Well done Jimmy, I agree. Some people give Ford fans and uneducated reputation. And as for the Johnsons, they hardly have the sort of record or stats to stack up against those that you mentioned. You could also include Ingall, Tander and Murphy in there
too. Too many second rate drivers are wasting the driver seats of expertsand tomorrows stars.

Not brilliant spelling yourself, but gee thanks for the support!

Well nearly all of us Ford fans are pretty dense!

Hey guys don't bag Jimmy and Bruce. Listen. They are only saying what all of us have been thinking for years. In marketing they reckon if one person writes it - then a thousand think it. They're not bagging the team but trying to help it out of its hole.
Gets some decent drivers. Sure the good teams have more money and the big teams have backing, but for example, the new livery - it wouldn't cost 100s of thousands but only maybe an extra $500-1000 to get a decent designer to do something special. And that
would start to attract better people/engineers/sponsors and later good drivers to the team. Dick just needs to get right out of the public eye, (Steve to go completely) and get some 'not perceived as dinosaurs' peple in management.

Didn't Johnson and Johnson make baby powder? Only a puff like Steve would agree to driving a car with honey on it, why not sweetheart on fiore's car. Obviously Johnson has no input into his team, Beam runs the whole show. Be broke if the Johnsons ran it.
Least Stevie has his nickname proudly across his chest now GO FORD but get some decent marketing guys