Clipsal: FPR race one report

FPR Into The Top Ten After First Adelaide Street Race

March 20, 2004 - Ford Performance Racing (FPR) has endured a race of highs and lows in the opening Clipsal 500 race in Adelaide.

The race was one of constant progress for FPR drivers Craig Lowndes and Glenn Seton, who started from 20th and 17th positions on the grid, with both drivers heading towards strong top ten finishes in the closing stages of the long and hot 78 lap race.

With 11 laps remaining in the race and while in 9th position, the engine of Lowndes' CAT FPR Falcon expired, ending his race in the pit garage.

Seton enjoyed more reliability with his Ford Credit FPR Falcon in today's 250 kilometre opening race, driving aggressively throughout to finish 10th from his 20th starting spot on the grid. A fast spin after finding oil at turn 4 on the 54th lap cost Seton a higher finish.

The opening leg of the Clipsal 500 was won by Ford's defending Champion Marcos Ambrose, with Holden driver Steven Richards second ahead of Ford driver Russell Ingall.

#5 Glenn Seton - "We had a good run in the race as the car was very consistent, but not quick enough in a few places. I got caught up in some oil at turn four with Greg Murphy and bumped the car up against the fence, losing a few positions. All in all it was an enjoyable race to drive and we still have a bit of work to do. I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

#6 Craig Lowndes - "I don't know what exactly went wrong, but we started to lose a cylinder about six laps before I pitted. It was an intermittent problem initially, so my engineers decided to keep a watching brief on it via the telemetry but in the end we decided to retire from the race to reduce the level of engine damage. It was very disappointing as I was having a fairly good race today."

FPR Chief Engineer, John Russell - "I am very pleased for Glenn, he drove a very solid race despite us losing some time during his first stop for tyres. It was good to see him bring the Ford Credit FPV Falcon home in the top ten. Craig was running very strongly until he suffered an engine failure due to a damaged valve. We now focus our efforts on tomorrow's second leg."

Seton's result today represented a commendable first effort behind the scenes from last minute stand in race engineer Clinton Wilson, one of FPR's design engineers who filled in for Seton's regular race engineer Dave Paterson, who fell ill last night.

The team will fit a new engine to the CAT FPR Falcon overnight and continue with set up changes to the Ford Credit Falcon to assist towards stronger results tomorrow.

Tomorrow's second 250 kilometre leg to decide the winner of the first V8 Supercar round of the 2004 season starts at 2:00pm.

-fpr-