TAS SUPERSPRINT - High Expectations for Tasmania

Following his race-winning performance at the Australian Grand Prix, Chaz Mostert has set his sights on further success with strong results key to improving his fourth place standing in the championship.
Citing Symmons Plains as one of his favourites, Mark Winterbottom is confident of turning his season around in Tasmania where he took home both pole position cheques last year. With braking trouble encountered at Albert Park curbed, Winterbottom is prepared to give his all at the Tasmanian circuit.
Cameron Waters will look to mount a serious challenge at this year's event, aiming for consistency after an-up-and-down outing in 2016. Pleased with the car's direction, Waters believes qualifying position will be key to achieving a good race result.

 

DRIVERS’ VIEW

Mark Winterbottom - #5
"Tassie is one of my favourites. It's always been kind result wise but I just want to get back on track. When you're had a bad couple of runs, the only way to fix it is to get back on track so I can't wait. This is our chance to turn it around and compete where I know we can. We know how to race at this track and we know how to set the car up there too so I don't have any concerns."

Cameron Waters - #6
"To come out of Adelaide fifth is a really good result so we just have to keep building that momentum now to try and stay there. Symmons Plains is a tight track and pretty much only has three corners. Qualifying there is always super-tight, if you qualify well you can generally race there so one of the big things for us this weekend is getting our qualifying setup right. Building on what we've learnt already this year is another focus of ours so we'll see how we roll out."

Chaz Mostert - #55
"Each weekend that we roll out we're learning something new. The direction that we're going is quite different to what we're normally used to here at PRA so we're having a real crack at it but in saying that, the more runs you have under the belt the more you learn about it. There'll be plenty more for us to learn in Tasmania. It's not all about learning the positives, you have to learn the negatives with it as well to try and tune the negatives out. All of our focus is on us and our own performance and getting better so we'll keep our focus there. If we can continue our good run I'll be happy."

Tim Edwards – Team Principal:
"Going into Symmons Plains we certainly know a lot more about the tyre and the car than we did a couple of weeks ago. We're made some good progress, ironing out those few issues that we saw at the Grand Prix and looking at what we can do to go better again. Tasmania is a good event, it's a short but challenging track and I'm sure there'll be no shortage of excitement."
 

EVENT NAME: Tasmania SuperSprint
DATE: 7 - 9 April 
LOCATION: Launceston, Tasmania
EVENT NUMBER: 2 of 14
FORMAT: Friday – 2 x 45-minute practice;
               Saturday – 1 x 45min practice, 1 x 15min qualifying, 1 x 50 lap race;
               Sunday – 1 x 20min qualifying, 1 x 84-lap race

CIRCUIT: Symmons Plains
LENGTH: 2.41-kilometres
DESCRIPTION:The circuit’s main features include a banked hairpin corner and a long back straight that should see the Prodrive Racing Fords reach near their maximum speed. The turn four hairpin and left hander at the end of the back straight are the two best passing opportunities. Brakes are worked very hard with two large stops within half a minute of one another. The banking at the hairpin makes for a unique opportunity to line up a good run out of one of the slowest corners on the Supercars calendar.
TRACK RECORD: 51.47s – Rick Kelly, 2009
PRA BEST RESULT: 1st – Mark Winterbottom (2010)