Ashley Seward Motorsport Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup driver Dale Wood says he is heading to this weekend’s second round of the series at The Bend Motorsport Park in an upbeat frame of mind after a positive test day at the venue last week.
Wood currently sits ninth in the standings, but is confident in his car’s performance following the season opener at Sandown, in which he staged a spectacular charge through the field in race three.
“There’s heaps of speed in the car,” Wood said.
“At Sandown, I made a mistake in race two, but definitely finished the weekend on a much more positive note with a cool last race.
“The Bend is a completely different type of track – there are a lot of high-speed corners, and it will be a big challenge to keep the car operating well throughout the long-distance (20 lap) race.
“There are a lot of corners that flow into each other, so if you make a mistake in one corner, it tends to cost you time in the next sequence of corners as well.
“The track also evolves over the course of the weekend, because it rubbers up – the ASM boys are mindful of these factors, and I know they’ll do a great job of tuning the car accordingly.”
In addition to Wood’s Mobil Pro Class entry, ASM will also run three cars in Morris Finance Pro-Am, with Dean Cook making his first appearance of the year alongside Geoff Emery and Scott Taylor.
“We had good pace at Sandown, but I was out of luck with mechanical issues and incidents so I’ll be looking to bounce back strongly at The Bend this weekend,” Emery said.
“The Bend is an open, flowing track with plenty of passing opportunities and run-off areas,” Taylor added.
“As always, my goal is to keep improving as the weekend goes on, stay out of trouble and enjoy some good battles with the drivers around my pace.
“It’s beneficial for me to be working with a driver like Dale, who can help me with the basic fundamentals and is also useful for giving me feedback on the track conditions as they change throughout the weekend.”
Cook is looking forward to his first event of the year.
“It’s great to be back in the car, I always enjoy Carrera Cup rounds,” Cook said.
Practice for Carrera Cup commences on Friday.
Carrera Cup Round 2 Schedule
(Adelaide time)
Friday, 7 May
11:50am – Practice 1 (25 min)
2:10pm – Practice 2 (25 min)
Saturday, 8 May
10:10am – Qualifying (20 min)
2:50pm – Race 1 (11 laps)
Sunday, 9 May
11:15am – Race 2 (20 laps)
2:25pm – Race 3 (11 laps)
