DJR Teammates Place in the Top 10 in Practice at Darwin
June 17, 2016
Track: Hidden Valley Raceway
Race: CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown
Date: 17th June 2016
No. 12 Taubmans by PPG Ford – Fabian Coulthard
Practice 1 P 10 Fastest Lap 1:07.51
Practice 2 P 6 Fastest Lap 1:06.76
No. 17 Shell Helix Ford – Scott Pye
Practice 1 P 16 Fastest Lap 1:07.72
Practice 2 P 5. Fastest Lap 1:06.69
Recap Practice 1 and 2: DJR Team Penske has completed the first day of Practice at Hidden Valley with both cars well inside the Top 10. In hot conditions, the times tumbled in the second one hour session with near record times being set.
Scott Pye gave his new Shell Helix Ford a fine debut to finish in fifth place overall on the combined session times. He was rarely out of the top group in the second session after a steady run on older tyres in the morning.
Fabian Coulthard bounced into sixth position after minimal running this afternoon. The DJR Team Penske crew elected to make a precautionary engine change in the No 12 Taubmans by PPG Ford after the morning practice run. The crew turned the car round quickly and although missing the first 25 minutes of session two, Coulthard was quickly on the pace finishing just behind his team mate.
Saturday sees qualifying and the first 120km race at the CrownBet Darwin SuperSprint.
Fabian Coulthard Quote: "Although we lost track time with the engine change the Taubmans by PPG Ford ran well in that last session. It is never good to lose that time, and it has made tomorrow a little more difficult. I feel though that we have good information from the day and now look to convert that to a Top 5 position tomorrow."
Scott Pye Quote: "The Shell Helix Ford ran faultlessly today. It is a credit to the guys to build the new car, run well at the Shakedown and come here and be competitive. We made a lot of positive changes today and feel we put everything together in that final session and had a pretty decent car. We still need to find a bit more but it is very close here in Darwin, so we just need to get everything right for Qualifying."
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