Supercars
FPR Perth Saturday qualifying report
Two FPR Falcons in Perth top ten Ford Performance Racing (FPR) drivers Glenn Seton, Craig Lowndes and David Besnard made the most of today's practice and qualifying sessions held in fine conditions at Perth's Barbagallo Raceway. Ford Credit FPR ...
Published: Jun 7, 2003, 9:32 PM
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Two FPR Falcons in Perth top ten
Ford Performance Racing (FPR) drivers Glenn Seton, Craig Lowndes and David Besnard made the most of today's practice and qualifying sessions held in fine conditions at Perth's Barbagallo Raceway.
Ford Credit FPR BA Falcon driver Glenn Seton was the fastest of the FPR trio during the morning practice session, the team using the 35 minutes of track time to try different set ups on his and Lowndes' CAT FPR BA Falcon. David Besnard continued his steady progress at 14th overall during the competitive session.
The high pressure 20 minute qualifying session saw a great deal of activity within the FPR pits, with all three drivers making several adjustments and stops for green (new) tyres in order to find the fastest way around the undulating 2.4 kilometre circuit.
Lowndes set the second fastest time of the lower 50% qualifying group, a 58.0868 second lap placing him two-one hundredths of a second behind Holden driver Jason Bright. Seton was also impressive during the session, his fastest lap of 58.2863s placing him 5th with Besnard 12th in the team's AU Falcon with a fastest lap of 58.6276s.
These lap times were strong enough to secure two places in the top ten shootout for FPR, Lowndes at 4th and Seton at 9th overall. Besnard's time placed him 21st out of the 32 car field.
The top times of the session went to Holden drivers Greg Murphy (57.6298), Mark Skaife and Jason Bright, Murphy's top lap time was 4/10ths of a second faster than the fourth fastest time set by Lowndes.
The top ten shootout is scheduled for 2:15pm, with the first 100 kilometre sprint race starting at 4:10pm (6:10pm EST).
#6 Craig Lowndes - "We have been working hard on our set up and we made a mistake in practice which put us on the back foot a bit this morning. The qualifying session was much better. The car feels good for the sprint races ahead and I am looking forward to today's action."
#5 Glenn Seton - "I struggled for grip throughout the session, so I am pleased to have set a top ten time despite this. Our race prospects could be very good in this new car."
#19 David Besnard - "I was having some major problems with rear end grip and this made the session a bit of a struggle - even while using new tyres. It will be a fair bit of hard work during the race but we have seen many drivers get caught out here so it will be an interesting day ahead."
FPR Chief Engineer John Russell - "This is the first time that we have managed to get two cars into the top ten - albeit thanks to a little misfortune from the leading runners. Glenn headed Craig right until his last flying lap and is progressively moving forward in his new BA Falcon. David qualified respectively in the AU Falcon but we can't wait to get him in a BA for Queensland. The picture looks very different to how it did before qualifying, Craig elevating himself from near the back of the pack to the leading group."
-fpr-
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