The Team were pleased with the results from the practice session this morning with all four drivers spending the majority of the 30 minute session inside the Top 15.
When Qualifying began just after lunch, the 3.93km track had warmed slightly from practice and the Team were again quick in the first part of the session. However, Jim Beam Racing could not hang onto these positions. Steve Johnson was in 17th and Dean Fiore was 21st.
Both the Jim Beam cars of Johnson and Fiore started the 56 laps on soft tyres and both drivers made up places during the clean start, but they were not able to hang onto their track positions after the first stop.
Despite a great start by Steve Johnson, the Jim Beam car #17 driver was not able to finish further up the grid. Race Engineer, Mark Fenning, “We didn’t have the pace we thought we’d have from the first set of softs and this put us back for the whole race, and we finished up in 19th position.”
Fiore was able to make up places during the race, moving up 3 spots to 18, but according to his Race Engineer, Nathan McColl, the gamble they put on the softs at the start of the race did not pay off. “We found out during the first stint that the soft tyres we put on car #12 weren’t as good quality as we thought and we didn’t get the gain we we wanted. Dean drove well and did his best to salvage some points. Our hard tyre pace is really good and given the next two races are hard tyre only, we are hoping for better results.”
The Team will head to Sandown in two and a half weeks for the first Endurance race of the 2012 Season. Steve Johnson will partner with Allan Simonsen and Dean Fiore will race with New Zealander, Matt Halliday
When Qualifying began just after lunch, the 3.93km track had warmed slightly from practice and the Team were again quick in the first part of the session. However, Jim Beam Racing could not hang onto these positions. Steve Johnson was in 17th and Dean Fiore was 21st.
Both the Jim Beam cars of Johnson and Fiore started the 56 laps on soft tyres and both drivers made up places during the clean start, but they were not able to hang onto their track positions after the first stop.
Despite a great start by Steve Johnson, the Jim Beam car #17 driver was not able to finish further up the grid. Race Engineer, Mark Fenning, “We didn’t have the pace we thought we’d have from the first set of softs and this put us back for the whole race, and we finished up in 19th position.”
Fiore was able to make up places during the race, moving up 3 spots to 18, but according to his Race Engineer, Nathan McColl, the gamble they put on the softs at the start of the race did not pay off. “We found out during the first stint that the soft tyres we put on car #12 weren’t as good quality as we thought and we didn’t get the gain we we wanted. Dean drove well and did his best to salvage some points. Our hard tyre pace is really good and given the next two races are hard tyre only, we are hoping for better results.”
The Team will head to Sandown in two and a half weeks for the first Endurance race of the 2012 Season. Steve Johnson will partner with Allan Simonsen and Dean Fiore will race with New Zealander, Matt Halliday