Lee Holdsworth and Craig Baird will go into tomorrow’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with an air of confidence after a positive final 50-minute practice session this morning at Mount Panorama.
The crucial session provided the IRWIN Racing team with the opportunity to run their full race set-up. This included laps on fresher and older tyres, plus light and heavy fuel loads. Both Holdsworth and Baird shared the driving duties in the session.
In the opening segment of the session Holdsworth headed the time sheets, before Baird jumped aboard with full fuel. Over the following 30 minutes the crew further fine-tuned the car, while those drivers taking part in the Top-10 shootout this afternoon put in qualifying type laps. The final times had the IRWIN Ford in 12th.
Out of the IRWIN Falcon Baird was busy with his Carerra Cup duties taking pole position, plus victory in the opening two races.
Tomorrow the IRWIN Racing team will have a 20-minute warm up session at 7.25am, before the big race from 10.30am. Holdsworth and Baird will start 15th.
What the drivers had to say:
Lee Holdsworth – IRWIN Racing
“I’m feeling a lot better after that practice session,” said Holdsworth.
“I really know we have a good racecar which is the main thing around here. I’d rather a car that’s good over a distance than over just one lap.
“We have tuned it up and gone the right direction for the big race tomorrow.”
Craig Baird – IRWIN Racing
“A little bit like at Sandown we had been lacking that last couple of tenths a lap,” said Baird.
“For me that’s not something I have to explore, but I know Lee really worked on getting the car on the limit. It was great to hear that he was pretty happy with it this morning.
“I have been going well in the Porsche and will go into the race with plenty of confidence.”
V8 SUPERCARS – Top-10 Shootout
15. #4 Irwin Racing Lee Holdsworth +0.8234
V8 SUPERCARS – Practice 6
1. #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Ford M.Winterbottom/S.Richards 2:07.7370
2. #2 Holden Racing Team G.Tander/N.Percat +0.3746
3. #6 Trading Post FPR Ford W.Davison/J.McIntyre +0.5880
4. #9 SP Tools Racing S.Van Gisbergen/L.Youlden +0.9455
5. #47 Lucky 7 Racing T.Slade/A.Thompson +0.9556
6. #888 TeamVodafone C.Lowndes/W.Luff +0.9599
7. #19 Tekno Autosports J.Webb/S.McLaughlin +1.0294
8. #52 The Bottle-O Racing Team D.Reynolds/D.Canto +1.3436
9. #66 Supercheap Auto Racing R.Ingall/C.Klien +1.3459
10. #34 Fujitsu Racing GRM M.Caruso/G.Ritter +1.4835
12. #4 IRWIN Racing L.Holdsworth/C.Baird +1.6336
V8 SUPERCARS – Top-10 Shootout
1. #6 Trading Post FPR Ford Will Davison 2:08.0693*
2. #1 TeamVodafone Jamie Whincup +0.0315
3. #9 SP Tools Racing Shane Van Gisbergen +0.1098
4. #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Ford Mark Winterbottom +0.1270
5. #14 Lockwood Racing Fabian Coulthard +0.2692
6. #2 Holden Racing Team Garth Tander +0.4062
7. #47 Lucky 7 Racing Tim Slade +0.5302
8. #52 The Bottle-O Racing Team David Reynolds +0.8173
9. #888 TeamVodafone Craig Lowndes +1.0304
10. #49 VIP Petfoods Steve Owen +2.00304
