Dean Fiore (Complispace/Advance Energy) flies to the top of the time sheets after Carrera Cup’s practice session at Sandown Raceway this morning.
Dean Fiore (Complispace/Advance Energy) has gone some way to exorcising the demons of his last round performance by topping the time sheets for Carrera Cup’s first practice session at Sandown Raceway today.
The Melbourne-based West Australian lost the championship lead at Barbagallo Raceway the last time Carrera Cup took to the track, but at Sandown Raceway – where the all-Porsche category will support the V8 Supercars Midas 400 – he was the fastest in the first session.
Fiore’s time of 1:12.5724 was set half-way through the 20 minute practice session and was good enough to ensure he has first crack at pole position in qualifying on Sunday.
Fiore’s Sonic Motor Racing team mate Bryce Washington (ADRAD Radiators) was second fastest with 1:12.856, while Jim Richards’ protégé David Wall (Shannons Insurance) was third with 1:12.935.
Paul Stokell (Sherrin Rentals) – on his return to the category – was fourth and Championship leader Craig Baird (ACER/Leading Solutions) fifth.
James Moffat (Bob Jane T-Marts/Trueline), Rodney Jane (Bob Jane T-Marts), Rodney Forbes (Jaimie Vedda Racing), Aaron Caratti (Parklands on Bertram) and David Russell (Boom Logistics) rounded out the top 10.
James Koundouris (Supabarn Supermarkets) was fastest of the Pilatus Challenge drivers, which is for non-professional racers over the age of 30, while Max Twigg (Truloc) was second and Theo Koundouris (Supabarn Supermarkets) was third.
Fiore was happy to put in a solid performance after his poor run in Perth and with conditions over the weekend expected to be similar to this morning’s greasy track, he knows the car is set-up well.
"That is exactly where I wanted to be going into qualifying tomorrow," he said. "We pitted halfway through the session and made some changes to the car which didn’t really improve my times so we learnt a few things which could prove beneficial for the rest of the weekend."
Washington was also happy with his result. "I always seem to go alright at Sandown and today things were good," he said. "The car was alright and the track wasn’t as slippery as I thought it was going to be so qualifying should be alright."
James Koundouris – who is battling the flu as well as 19 competitors this weekend – took the session easy in preparation of a big assault on Sunday. "I didn’t push too hard because apart from the flu I hadn’t been in the car since Barbagallo, so the plan was to push just hard enough to set up a reasonable spot for qualifying and I managed to do that," he said.
Carrera Cup’s next session is qualifying on Sunday morning, before Race One in the afternoon.
Races Two and Three will be held on Monday, with Race Three shown nationally on Channel 7 at 3pm. Highlights of Round Five will screen on Channel 7 on June 21.
For a full list of practice results click here: http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?09/06/2008.SAN.P4
- Adrian Miller, also photo -
More reports from this category all copyright automobilsport.com.
