Tough conditions for Jim Beam duo

It was a tough day at the office for Jim Beam Racing duo Will Davison and Steve Johnson this afternoon, as Sydney’s Oran Park circuit dished up some difficult conditions in what will be the last time it hosts a V8 Supercar event.
Davison and Johnson both found track conditions tough to master as the pair struggled for rear grip throughout qualifying and the weekend’s opening race.

The heat and power issues at the circuit combining to make difficult conditions even worse as the team searched for a set up to suit the conditions.

A sweltering day in Sydney made track temperatures very difficult to deal with, and a power shortage at the circuit saw some major delays during qualifying as officials searched for the problem and had qualifying halted until power was returned to timing monitors to clock driver laps to determine the grid for the opening race.

After sneaking into the top ten during the final stages of the second leg of qualifying, Davison lacked rear grip throughout the opening race and said things would need to improve for tomorrow’s races for him to push further through the field.

“It was really tough out there, we struggled with lateral grip and I just fought as hard as I could to keep track position but it was certainly tough going,” said Davison.

“We’ll work harder over night in search of a better set up, but I think the weather could even throw another curve ball at us tomorrow and if we see cooler track conditions it could change things again.”

Johnson qualified 17th and finished 15th this afternoon, and after a poor run of luck during yesterday’s practice said he was happy to hold on today under pressure.

“Yesterday we had a mechanism in the accelerator pedal give way during practice and then once we got back out there we had problems with the power steering pump so I’m glad we got rid of those issues early in the weekend,” said Johnson.

“Today was really quite a battle out there, I had about eight or so cars really closing in towards the end of that race and even though we made some big changes in between qualifying and race one we are still searching for some more grip to compete further up the field.

“I’m happy I didn’t make any mistakes under pressure and we will need to really have a look at what we can do to improve the cars for tomorrow.”

Davison and Johnson still both sit inside the top five and ten respectively on the Championship table with two races remaining; the duo’s results placing Jim Beam Racing third in the teams’ Championship as they look to secure that place tomorrow.