 The CAMS Rising Stars squad has enjoyed a highly productive opening day of running at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway, ahead of Round 4 of the 2010 Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship this weekend.
With team drivers Jack Le Brocq, Matthew Brabham, Liam Sager and Garry Jacobson all having their first ever laps of the circuit this morning, the two practice sessions were spent learning the intricacies of the track layout, as well as gathering as much data as possible prior to qualifying tomorrow.
The two 20 minute practice sessions saw the Rising Stars complete approximately 30 laps each, with all four drivers going faster in Practice 2 than they had in the morning session.
Le Brocq, who is running a special nose cone in support of the SIDS and Kids Red Nose Day campaign this weekend, ended the day as the fastest team car in 14th – having improved by a full second in the afternoon.
“It’s been a very productive day,” said Le Brocq. “Running the Red Nose Day sticker on the car this weekend, and having had a tough run last time out at Winton, makes it highly pleasing to have made such a strong start to the weekend.
“Not having been here before, we concentrated on doing as many laps as we could today. It’s a great track, very enjoyable. There are a couple of tight hairpins, as well as the flowing part across the back, so set-up was always going to be a bit of a compromise. Qualifying tomorrow will be very interesting, as there’s a lot of time to be gained by getting a (aerodynamic) tow from another car down the front straight.”
Sager, who is making his second appearance in at national level this weekend, ended the day just a tenth behind Le Brocq. The 15 year old Queenslander, who showed impressive speed on debut at Winton last month, also expressed a positive opinion on the Hidden Valley layout.
“The track’s great,” he said, “it’s got a bit of everything. We spent a lot of time today getting the car flowing well around the back of the circuit, and found quite a bit of time across the two sessions.
“It’s very hot in the car which isn’t so pleasant though – we certainly didn’t have this problem at Winton!”
With Brabham and Jacobson, who have both won rounds of the Victorian State Formula Ford Championship this year, also improving as they gained experience throughout the day, team principal Bruin Beasley was highly pleased with the team’s performance.
“It’s been a really positive day for us,” he said. "We are sticking to our goals and objectives that we set at the start of the year – to get consistent results from each of the boys. It would be easy to get ahead of ourselves with some of the exceptional performances we’ve had already, but we just need to stick to the plan.
“None of the boys had driven here before, so we really just had to send them out to do as many laps as possible today. With four cars out there, we’ve got over 100 laps of data to go through tonight before qualifying.”
Team communications manager Andrew McInnes is likewise upbeat ahead of the weekend.
“All the boys did a great job today – they kept out of trouble and familiarised themselves with this technical circuit layout. The races will be very interesting, as the draft effect on the front straight will require a fair bit of strategic thinking in order to get a result.”
Qualifying begins at 10:25 local time tomorrow, with Race 1 scheduled for 14:20.
The CAMS Rising Stars are proudly supported by the Confederation of Australian Motorsport, the Australian Sports Commission, Minda Motorsport, Penrite Oils, OAMPS Insurance Brokers, Boylan Traffic Solutions, Relux Slabs, Revolution Racegear, LCF Merchandise and Mark Webber.
HIDDEN VALLEY RACEWAY, DARWIN, NT – FRIDAY
Practice 1 & 2 combined
14. Jack Le Brocq, Spectrum 011c, 1:14.7775
15. Liam Sager, Spectrum 011b, 1:14.8748
18. Matthew Brabham, Spectrum 011d, 1:15.0578
20. Garry Jacobson, Spectrum 011c, 1:15.2094
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