Assaillit makes V8 debut

Sunshine Coast racer Damian Assaillit has opened his 2008 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series campaign with a solid performance at the street circuit in Adelaide.
On a race weekend marred by plenty of accidents, Assaillit aboard his Fujitsu Racing Ford Falcon showed plenty of maturity, despite being just 18 years of age.

With a fresh new paint scheme and backing from Fujitsu General as well as support from Dwyer Quality Homes, Assaillit aboard the Race Image prepared Ford, dialed himself into the car during practice and then into qualifying.

Any chance of a strong qualifying performance was hampered firstly by traffic and then a rain shower. Assaillit started the opening race in position #17.

The entire first race was relatively clean with no safety cars. Assaillit jumped out of the blocks and moved up the order. However, heavy tyre wear slowed his pace and he fell back to 18th position at the end of the race.

With encouragement from V8 Supercar star and fellow Fujitsu Racing driver Jason Bright, Assaillit got a great jump in race#2. He was 12th when the safety car was called onto the circuit far a massive accident involving Ashley Cooper. The race was then stopped and not re-started.

Assaillit was satisfied with being placed 15th overall in a field of 30 cars.

“We are satisfied, it was important that we got plenty of laps this weekend,” said Assaillit.

“The Adelaide circuit is very hard on the car and driver, so to be just outside the top-10 in the second race was very positive.

“As a team we are continuing to improve and I’m sure that we can start to look at getting well inside the top-10.

“We didn’t put a scratch on the Falcon. The car was very strong and clearly reliable.

“It must be remembered that there are a number of drivers in the Fujitsu series this year that have experience in the main V8 Supercar Championship Series. From my point of view it’s excellent to race against these guys as I continue to develop as a driver.

“It’s also been excellent working with Jason Bright and the entire Fujitsu Racing crew at Britek Motorsport. The advice and encouragement from those guys is invaluable for my own development.”

Whilst the Sunshine Coast racer has continued to impress all he works with, both he and the Fujitsu Racing team have realistic expectations for this season

“The team and Damian have both set the same goals for the season, get inside the top ten consistently with a goal of finishing the season in the top 5,” said Team Owner David McMahon.

“There are some very experienced drivers stepping back into the series who will be hard to beat.

“However, our goal of developing young drivers seems the right way to go for us.

“We believe putting a good young driver into well a sorted and prepared car will pay dividends for us. Damian fits this bill perfectly”

Assaillit next goes racing in the Fujitsu Series on April 4-6 at Wakefield Park outside Goulburn in New South Wales.