Winton: WPS/WOW Racing preview

WPS/WOW RACING HAS RUNS ON THE BOARD AT WINTON

WPS/WOW Racing drivers Jason Bargwanna and Max Wilson are both looking to capitalise on strong past performances at Winton Motor Raceway as they head into Round 4 of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at the rural Victorian venue this weekend.

Jason Bargwanna, driver of the #10 WPS Racing Falcon, is a two-time winner at Winton and one of only five drivers with multiple round wins at the tight and twisting circuit.

In 1999 Bargwanna completed a clean sweep of Round 10 of the series at Winton in only his second season in the championship. Bargwanna claimed pole position and won all three races that weekend.

One year later Bargwanna joined Jim Richards and Glenn Seton as the only back-to-back Winton round winners in the same year that he claimed victory at Mount Panorama, Bathurst.

Brazilian Max Wilson has also enjoyed success at Winton, bringing WPS/WOW Racing a top 10 result at the 3.0-kilometre circuit last season.

Wilson and round winner Craig Lowndes were the only two drivers in the top 10 overall at last year's Winton round not to use the Benalla track as their nominated test circuit. Winton is the testing facility for 20 of the 31 entries in the V8 Supercar field.

Wilson enjoyed WPS/WOW Racing's best result of the season so far at the last round at Pukekohe Park Raceway in New Zealand with 15th overall, elevating the #8 WOW Racing Falcon driver to 18th in the championship standings.

Both Wilson and Bargwanna will be looking to better that performance this weekend at Winton as WPS/WOW Racing looks to continue its rise up the championship table.

WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY --

Max Wilson -- #8 WOW Racing Falcon

"I think Winton has the potential to be a very good round for us," said Wilson.

"We had our best result of the year in New Zealand and this weekend we will be out to better that and get even more points.

"Last year at Winton we kept working on the car all weekend and by the final race we were right up there and got 10th overall for the round.

"This weekend we need to be in the top half of the field earlier in the weekend so that we have the best possible chance of scoring points in every race."

Jason Bargwanna -- #10 WPS Racing Falcon

"I'm really looking forward to Winton," said Bargwanna.

"We have had our share of bad luck this year and I'm sure that is all out of the way now and we can look to a clean race meeting this weekend.

"I've had success at Winton in the past and I think that this can be the round where we get the results we deserve as a team and give a better indication of where our cars are at, because we have made some strides forward in the early part of the year.

"I think we can do some big things at Winton. It's all about corner speed at this track because there are so many corners. Hopefully we can get to a set-up early in the weekend that gets our cars working well through the corners.

"The important thing around Winton is front grip. That's vital, so if you can have good front grip and nice power down out of the corners you are more than likely in for a good weekend."

Craig Gore -- Team Owner

"The team heads to Winton this weekend with plenty of reasons to be upbeat," said Gore.

"Max was one of only two guys to get his car into the top 10 at Winton last year who does not test at the circuit.

"Bargs is a former two-time winner at Winton and I am sure will be desperate to get back among the points after a disappointing result in New Zealand.

"The whole team has been working around the clock to get Bargs' car back into shape and the guys have to be congratulated on their efforts.

"Max showed we have improved the speed of the cars in New Zealand and I think we will continue to show progress this weekend."

WPS/WOW RACING -- TEAM TALK

Team Talk is a new feature of communications from WPS/WOW Racing, giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at the many aspects of a V8 Supercar team.

In Part One of our first WPS/WOW Racing -- Team Talk column, Car #10 Engineer Daniel Kroehn outlines the timeline of repair work to get Jason Bargwanna's #10 WPS Racing Falcon from it's Race 2 Pukekohe accident to a race-ready machine for this weekend's Winton round.

"The work started on Car #10 the Thursday morning (April 26) after New Zealand," says Kroehn.

"The car was stripped back of all panels, all engine and drive-train components were removed and all suspension was also removed. On Friday morning the chassis was sent to Logan, which is roughly an hour north of our workshop, for crash repair work.

"The door framework on the left-hand side of the car was replaced and everything was straightened and squared up. We then had the car back in the workshop on Friday May 4.

"The two mechanics on Car #10, Ben Lawrence and Shaun Simpson, as well as Nick Torelli, worked very hard in getting the car back together. By Friday of May 11 the car was back together, giving us Saturday morning to do some engineering work in terms of getting the car set-up for Winton.

"Monday morning (May 14) the car was signwritten with all it's stickers and the final Winton set-up work was done on Monday afternoon.

"The car was then loaded up into the truck for Darryl our truck driver to depart early Tuesday morning. The entire process involves a lot of work but everyone involved has done a tremendous job and the car is now in great shape for this weekend."

Be sure to check www.wpsracing.net.au on Friday for Part Two of Daniel's column, when he will discusses the engineering challenge of setting up a V8 Supercar for the tight and twisty Winton Motor Raceway.

-credit: wps/wow