Gulf Western Oil with Hector Again

Newcastle-based Dunlop Series driver Michael Hector has announced Gulf Western Oil will continue as naming rights sponsor for his team in 2014.

The New South Wales based independent oil producer has enjoyed a long involvement with Hector’s Carrington Equipment Group and the synergies in the respective businesses have cemented a further 12 month deal.

“With V8 Supercars being one of Australia’s most loved sports, the team at Gulf Western Oil is extremely excited to be part of such an amazing event and atmosphere," Gulf Western Directors Andrew and Ben Vicary said. 

"Working alongside the fantastic crew from Carrington Equipment Group is also something we have enjoyed and look forward to doing so this so once again this year.”

The ex-Stone Brothers FG Falcon Hector will compete in has been given a full off-season freshen up since a rough and tumble final round of the 2013 Dunlop Series in Sydney last December.

The Falcon has already hit the track this year after a full test day at Queensland Raceway last week. He billed the day his most productive test to date, saying he and Matt Stone Racing had felt enormous progress was made – not only with his own feedback to engineers but the way in which the Gulf Western Oil Falcon responded to changes. 

“It was great to welcome the Gulf Western Oil team back as naming rights sponsor for 2014," Hector said. 

"Soon after the deal was finalised, we headed to Queensland Raceway with all there Matt Stone Racing Fords on track. We had a great test day, in fact I would say the best one I have ever had!

“We did a long shakedown to make sure the car was OK as it was the first time back on track since the carnage at Homebush. All credit must go to  Jimmy and Matt Stone; they did a fantastic job repairing the car. 

“Then we set about laying down a benchmark time which I was pleased to say was the best I had ever run at QR. We were on average tyres,  on a hot day and the track was slow according to the MSR engineers so another pleasing result. The rest of the day was spent on working on changes with the bars and brake bias to really focus on how the car changes under race conditions.  

"The team chose not to run any new tyres and which proved to be a good move as the test program ran its course on the day. I found the day very productive feel a lot more confident heading to Adelaide this week.”

The 2014 Dunlop Series kicks off at the Clipsal 500 with a bumper 30 car field. 

The second tier V8 Supercars category will be on-track from Thursday – tickets are available to the event now.