Round 2 - V8 Utes Winton

I set off to VIC excited about my first round in the ‘Ice Break, Real Coffee, Ice Cold’ Holden Ute. After spending a couple of days in the  workshop doing the final prep we were off to the Winton Raceway.

It had been two years since I had raced there in the Team Kiwi V8 Supercar and it was a track I hadn’t raced a Ute at before. I did a track walk to familiarise myself with the place again on Thursday evening before getting into our first practice session on Friday morning.

Practice one and two went well and flowed into Qualifying posting the second fastest time in each session. We showed good speed so only made minor changes to the Ute throughout the weekend to try and fine tune the handling.

Race one was unfortunately cut 3 laps short due to a safety car period early in the race. I maintained my second position which was a good way to kick the weekend off.

Race two was slightly longer being a 12 lap reverse top 11 race. I had a solid first lap and made my way towards the front of the field. I challenged for the lead on the final lap but got baulked and crossed the line 3rd. This was more good points and would of put me at the front of the grid for the third and final race, but to my disappointment I was given a 15sec time penalty for an incident while passing another competitor. I was more than 50% down the inside into turn one and the other driver proceeded to turn in on me resulting in contact like he was unaware I was there.

Copping the time penalty saw me start race three from grid 5. I had a good start but my progress was stalled by a 'very wide Ute' which slowed us both resulting in the Ute behind having a lunge and pushing me wide. I crossed the line 9th.

To finish the weekend 6th overall was somewhat disappointing but I am excited about the speed and potential results that we showed we were capable of throughout the weekend. I have some ideas in mind to improve the Ute for round 3 in Darwin on the 18-20 of June which I am looking forward to.

On another note, http://www.kdtraining.com/ has entered my ENZED Falcon Ute in Fords Miniature Model competition so please get behind it and put in your vote which is easy through the following link. The Ute is currently ranked 4th so we need a few more votes! http://www.fordsnextminiaturemodel.co.nz/most-awarded/profile/id/64

Thanks for the support,

CP