Frosty supports Prodrive young guns

Defending champion Mark Winterbottom has played a role in preparing Championship leader Garry Jacobson for this weekend’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

The Supercars Dunlop Series front-runner is a part of the team at Prodrive Racing Australia this year racing for its second tier development program.

Jacobson highlighted hard work from Prodrive and spending time with Winterbottom in the lead to Bathurst as important factors in his success on-track so far this weekend.

“I had a lot of support going into the weekend with Mark Winterbottom. I was with his family for a couple of days doing signing sessions and stuff in Wodonga,” Jacobson told Supercars.com.

“We were just chatting about what to do at the track, how to better yourself and it has really payed off.”

Jacobson emphasised his composed and consistent racing this weekend is credit to the assistance and support team at Prodrive.

“In between the sessions I’ve had the radio on listening to all the co-driver and main game driver’s feedback just to get an idea of where the track is going,” Jacobson said.

“By the time I went out for practice two and qualifying I didn’t feel as unprepared as some might have felt, it’s just a credit to the Prodrive crew.

“They’ve given me a really good car and the last two rounds we’ve been able to convert it into Pole Positions and that brings confidence.”

In yesterday’s Qualifying, Jacobson dominated the field breaking two-time series champion Paul Dumbrell’s lap record, the qualifying record as well taking out ARMOR ALL Pole Position.

Jacobson said considering the limited laps he has had on the mountain he was really stoked with the achievement.

“Considering minimal laps drivers like myself and Todd Hazelwood who have missed out on co-drive roles I was really stoked.”

He will sit on the front of the grid for this afternoon’s race alongside Dumbrell.

The Shepparton native is currently leading the Supercars Dunlop Series Championship by 67 points ahead teammate Jack Le Brocq.

This afternoon’s mini enduro 250km race will award the race winner 300 points. Jacobson said it is crucial for him to be on his A game today with double points on offer.

 “I am looking forward to the race now. It’s an important race in my Championship,” Jacobson said.

“Being calm is the biggest thing, minimising errors on the circuit, getting a good start ticking that box and getting into a rhythm as soon as I can.

“The car has a really good balance at the moment so as the race progresses I will start to push the car further into the corners lap after lap.”

The Dunlop Series ‘mini-enduro’ will incorporate pit stops where teams will be able to change tyres during the race. Bathurst is a one off for Dunlop Series pit stops as they don’t usually do them on a normal sprint round.

Jacobson said he was focused on the basics for the race and would not try to over complicate anything.

“I haven’t really done a lot of pit stops before so I’m not trying to use my pit stop as an area of the race to make up time, I just want to get it done and get out,” Jacobson said.

“Once I enter into pit lane for my pit stops it’s about hitting the mark so the guys can do the tyre changes as easy as possible and getting down to 40km so you’re not over the speed.

“I’ve just got to push as hard as I can without making mistakes in this race.”

The Dunlop Series race kicks off at 2.05pm local time, right before the ARMOR ALL Top 10 Shootout.