hero-img

LDM has the spirit

28 Mar 2015
Percat confident with the 'new' car team built up - and talked through its unusual journey to the Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint.
3 mins by James Pavey
Advertisement

Young star Nick Percat is confident in the 'new' car he's racing in Tasmania this weekend, after a tricky fortnight for his Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport crew.

While there wasn't any doubt he'd be gearing up for the event, substantial damage from the Grand Prix threw a spanner in the works, includingthe need to transport the V8 Supercar from Melbourne to Tasmania for the event, which kicked off yesterday.

After proper inspection, the team decided it would need to purchase a spare car to build up for Percat, which was available from TEKNO Autosports.

While there was plenty to do on the car the main issue was the timeframe, with the chassis not arriving from Brisbane to Melbourne by 2am Saturday.

"They serviced all the other parts just to get them ready to bolt it altogether, because it came as a bare chassis," Percat explained to v8supercars.com.au.

"So once that happened they didn't have to work crazy hours, it was long solid days, but six people on the car so we got it all done pretty easily, and then they stickered it up Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday put it on the trailer."

And that's the great part of the story -while the Holden Commodore missed transport with the other V8 Supercars (and transporters), where there's a will, there's a way.

The car arrived with the help of the Spirit of Tasmania, with team boss Barry Hay driving the trailer to the boat himself.

"Thank you to the Spirit of Tasmania for helping us out there and getting us here," Percat said.

Advertisement

"No issues at all -started it up, drove it out and it was fine," he said of the car in yesterday's practice sessions.

Percat managed 23rd and 14th in the wet and dry sessions, and is happy with the feel of the car.

"It's not very different from the car at the Grand Prix -it's what you'd expect from a Triple Eight car. Everything just bolted in and didn't feel any different ... wouldn't have known it wasn't the same car."

Percat tasted success in a Formula Ford at the Symmons Plains circuit, and last year -his first time as a full-time V8 Supercars driver - recorded a top 15 result on Sunday.

The track was a standout for LDM, with Russell Ingall behind the wheel last year, who qualified third and finished fourth in the first race in Tasmania.

"We were ok here last year and today was good, car felt pretty speedy but it's Friday and you don't know what tyres everyone's on," Percat said. "We just do our own program, do our own thing and try to compare with each other - it's easiest to compare to your teammate."

And even though fast man Mark Winterbottom complained of the track being 'horrible and sketchy' with the rain, Percat would be more than happy for some wet racing this weekend.

"The wet around here was quite fun," the 26-year old said.

Stay tuned for practice this morning at 11.20am, ahead of two qualifying session and two races at the Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint.

Related News

Advertisement