Engineer Preview: ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600

Ford Performance Racing is on a high fresh off the team’s first Bathurst win. James Small engineered #5 to victory, after coming so close last year when working on #55, which came home just 0.3sec off the lead with David Reynolds behind the wheel at Mount Panorama.

Small rates the recent Bathurst win as his career highlight.

“It was an incredible feeling to have won the race and even more so with a lot of the long serving guys at FPR both at the track and back at shop who have tried so hard for so many years,” he told v8supercars.com.au.

Small described it as “a little tense” when Whincup had the run on Mark Winterbottom at turn two on the final lap.

“That was probably the best place for him to have a run as Mark positioned the car in exactly the right spot and what he did through the braking area was extremely smart which forced Jamie wide and allowed a little bit of breathing space for the rest of the lap. It was just great to see a good hard battle for the lead. 

“Regardless of what happened last year Dave gave it all he had and it was still a great result for everyone involved.”

Now, coming into the ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600, the team will be looking to continue its strong form and further propel Winterbottom in the Drivers Championship – he currently sits third, 142 points adrift of leader Whincup.

Small explained how to tackle the concrete-lined street circuit to v8supercars.com.au.

V8supercars.com.au: What are the main characteristics of the circuit?

Small: “Coming from Bathurst, the Gold Coast is the complete opposite. You have the chicanes and kerbs to deal with, the bumps and multiple surface changes plus there is a much greater emphasis placed on having a car that has good change of direction and the ability to put its power down well.” 

How will the weekend’s format affect setup and strategy?

“In previous years we have had the international drivers taking part in the event and the common way of thinking was to get their minimum laps (34) over and done with to get your main driver back in the car. It is unlikely this will change for 2013 but in saying that there are quite a few co-drivers in this year’s field who could hold their own with the main drivers so you may see some differing strategies. 

“We did see in Race Two last year that the 6 (Will Davison/Mika Salo, finished first) and 47 (Tim Slade/David Brabham, finished fourth) cars ran the gauntlet with some clever strategy in the middle of the race and it paid off for them so many more teams might be looking to try something similar depending when and if Safety Cars fall.”

How will the minimum fuel requirement affect strategy?

“For this event V8SC have done away with the minimum stop requirement as it isn’t practical for the weekend format. Instead there is a requirement to add 185 litres of fuel for the whole race. It really won’t make any difference to the outcome of the race or how you play the strategy as most cars will just have to start the race with less fuel. It will mean the stationary time in the lane will be slightly longer but obviously this is being done to provide parity with the new manufacturers.”

What is the tyre allocation and what sort of degradation are you expecting? How will this impact setup and strategy?

“Like all races this year our allocation for the weekend has been reduced down to a total of 28 soft tyres. At this point of the year most teams' pre-marked soft tyre banks will be looking pretty sad and sorry so practice could be tough for a lot of teams.

“Typically the degradation has been quite good on the soft tyre in previous years. We’ve seen this year that the new Dunlop soft tyre has performed quite well over a full stint at other higher wearing tracks so I wouldn’t have thought tyre wear will be a major concern.

“We saw last year that a number of teams were damaging rims over the kerbs and this could be a bigger factor again this year with the lower profile tyre we are now running.”

What aspects of the circuit are you expecting to suit your car and what do you have to be mindful of?  

“Typically the FPR cars have been quite strong through the front and back chicanes in previous years and hopefully that trend continues with the COTF. For the race we really need to make sure that the car is strong onto the back straight off T4 and likewise onto the front straight through T14/15 as having a good balance through these corners will be a key to a good consistent race package.”

What are you expecting to be the most important thing to do well this weekend?

“Being a street circuit qualifying is always important to make sure you keep out of the trouble that generally happens in the middle of the pack. The race is going to be decided in the final stint so we just need to run up front all day, keep our noses clean and hope the car has enough pace to race for the win.” 

How much will your position in the Championship/position relevant to Whincup and Lowndes on track affect your strategy and decision making?

“Realistically we just need to keep doing what we’ve done all year and that is to go out and try and win every single race. We can’t control what happens with the two T8 cars, but all we can do is try out best to finish in front of them in each race and we’ll see how the points look on Sunday night at Homebush.”

What are the biggest differences with endurance racing/running co-drivers?

“I’m lucky to have one of the best co-drivers in the field with Richo (Steven Richards). Mark and him have worked together for a long time and they get along really well. The way we have developed the new car really suits Richo and that showed with how comfortable he was at Bathurst. It just means we don’t have to change our approach with the car than how we go about it for every other round.”

Trackside tickets and a limited number of Fan Stand seating is still available for the ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600.