Bathurst 1000: FPR Sunday notes

DREAM TURNS BAD FOR FPR

Ford Performance Racing's surviving Bathurst 1000 entry has retired after driver, Dean Canto, made a slip at the top of The Mountain.

The Orrcon Steel Castrol FPR Falcon was running a strong fifth despite co-driver Luke Youlden suffering from numbness in his right leg due to a back injury.

In a final push for the podium, however, Canto made a small error going into The Dipper and ended in the wall.

FPR will be back on track in two weeks on the Gold Coast.

Tim Edwards
Team Principal

"It was a great shame for Dean and Luke because they were in a good position, with only a very short fuel stop to go. Dean came on the radio and said ‘sorry guys' but both of them have done a great job for us all day.

"I've grown up watching Bathurst and that's what makes it so much harder to deal with a result like this. Although you're disappointed at other races where you don't have a good result, it's a completely different sort of disappointment here. It's what we all dream about winning and 99% of the team will have had a disrupted night's sleep last night because everyone's anxious about the big day.

"We put a huge amount of preparation into this year's race but in the end it was a small reliability issue that led to the fire in car 6. It was a very small thing that stopped us in our tracks."

Dean Canto
Orrcon Steel Castrol FPR Falcon

"The back of the car stepped out on me and there's no room for error on Skyline. When it goes a little bit wrong over the top you realise how fast you're going.

"It was going to be a good result; a great fight back for us, so I'm just sorry for Luke and the boys."

Luke Youlden
Orrcon Steel Castrol FPR Falcon

"It just wasn't FPR's day today. I was very disappointed that I had that numbness issue in my right leg, which probably compromised our strategy because Dean was forced to do more laps. We did a lot to get the leg right for the last stint and that worked. I got in and had good pace."

-credit: fpr