Novocastrians go West
Following its strongest start to a season, Novocastrian Motorsport heads to Western Australia’s Barbagallo Raceway this weekend for Round Two of the 2013 Dunlop V8 Supercar Series from May 3 to 5, keen for even more.
In March’s season opener on the streets of Adelaide, Aaren Russell recorded his best-ever result in the series, with sixth for the weekend, and was joined inside the Top 10 by brother Drew Russell, as the team fielded newly-purchased FG Falcons for the first time.
The pair were fixtures in the Top 10 in the competitive field, with Drew qualifying fifth and finishing sixth in Race One despite having barely driven his new Triple Eight-built Falcon beforehand.
When he was delayed in Race Two, Aaren took up the charge for the team, grabbing sixth in his Stone Brothers Racing-built Falcon.
“Scoring my best ever result in the series in Adelaide and knowing that we have the machinery to compete at the front of the field gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the year,” Aaren said.
“It would have been fantastic to go straight from Clipsal to another race meeting, given how well that weekend went. But it was good to have a bit of time to review what we learnt and apply it at Wakefield Park in testing.
“We tried a lot of things and learnt even more. It was a really productive test; I’ve been counting down to this weekend ever since!”
At Barbagallo Raceway last year, Drew was ninth, the first of four Top 10 round results he recorded during the season, with Aaren finishing 14th and Michael Hector 20th.
“Clipsal was a good start to the year, but it could have easily been better, if not for my stall at the start of the second race,” Drew said.
“That only makes me hungrier for a big result this weekend.
“Going to Adelaide, I’d only really done a shakedown in the new car, so we spent the weekend learning with each lap we did. Now, with some testing under our belts, we definitely know a lot more about it and what we have to work with.
“In the old car, we managed to put together a strong run in Western Australia last year, so I’m really excited about getting out there this weekend.”
Now in his second season in the class, Hector continues his Dunlop Series development in Perth this weekend, having finished 24th in the 2013 season opener and following a productive test day at Wakefield Park in late April with the Russell brothers.
“I’ve done a lot of work since Clipsal and now have a far better understanding of the car and how to get the most out of it, especially following the test day at Wakefield Park,” Hector said.
“It’s in a different league to what I’ve driven before, but the more time I spend in it, the more comfortable I’m feeling.
“Unfortunately I was caught up in a couple of incidents at Barbagallo last year, but I really enjoyed the circuit, it suits my driving style. We’ll be hoping for a cleaner run this weekend and aiming to get well inside the Top 15.”
After practice on Friday and qualifying on Saturday morning, Novocastrian Motorsport will contest three races at Barbagallo Raceway this weekend, one on Saturday and two on Sunday.
