News
Dream Racing Duo Looking for Phillip Island Rebound
Press Release – It’s been a rapid start to the Trico Trans Am Series as the category enters round three of the season at Phillip Island, with Dream Racing Australia determined to improve upon their performances in Tasmania.
A mechanical malady occurred in qualifying for Jackson Rice, but the young gun recovered well to end the weekend in the top 10, while Josh Webster endured a tough run in Race 1 at his home event, but still remains atop of the Pro-Am standings.
The Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit has been resurfaced since the last time the Trico Trans Am Series visited the venue providing questions of pace and tyre degradation.
Dream Racing Australia recently completed a test for another competitor with Rice in attendance where he gained invaluable knowledge of the circuit despite not completing laps.
Webster is eager to continue his development in what is still a new Ford Mustang in his hands, but one with good history as Owen Kelly scored podiums in the same machine across multiple visits.
Dream Racing Australia is prepared for the contest at Phillip Island as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries on April 12-14 to be broadcast live on 7mate and 7plus.
QUOTES
Jackson Rice – #7 Mudtamer/Dream Racing Australia, Ford Mustang
“It was a shame to break the jackshaft in the diff during qualifying and the knock-on effect was we couldn’t get it fixed in time due to the short turnaround to Race 1, missing it by mere minutes,” reflected Rice.
“It was a bit of a shame to be sitting on the sidelines and not great for the series points. We knew the weekend from that point on was going to be a slog due to starting from the very back and coming through the pack at short circuits like Symmons Plains you lose the track position to make up points when it counts.
“I think it was really good in the end and we recovered ok. I had some engine temperature problems in the last forcing us to be down on a little bit of horsepower, but I think we showed pace-wise we’re definitely in contention and it just wasn’t demonstrated in track position.
“I think the biggest thing we learnt was how interesting the new surface is, and it caught a few people out by surprise down there. Traditionally Phillip Island was a bit of a low degradation circuit, but now it seems the opposite. The biggest key things for the round will be to look after the tyres due to a couple of long races in addition to the gear as I believe there will be a strain on componentry taking lateral load.
“Just looking after the car and being in the fight at the end and managing the new surface while balancing being quick.
“You always want to be constantly improving. I feel confident in our car and pace, the Mudtamer Mustang has really come to us alongside the team within Dream as well as myself as a driver in development. At every round we’re making progress and we’re in a competitive position, so as long as we can continue to move our way forward towards the top five to recoup some points from Tasmania.”
Josh Webster – #200 Auto Fix/Dream Racing Australia, Ford Mustang
“Tough is probably the one word I’d use to describe Tasmania, it wasn’t the weekend we were aiming for,” said Webster.
“We qualified strongly, but after Race 1 all went downhill from there with a DNF, then it was all about the fightback for the rest of the weekend trying to recover and gain as many points as we could.
“We still gained a bit in our race pace in the new Mustang. Saturday we didn’t quite nail it, but on Sunday we improved the package that we’ve got, so I’m excited to see what we can do at Phillip Island.
“The new track surface at Phillip Island sounds like it is hard on tyres, which should be fun and suits me. We’ve always had a car that looks after its tyres pretty well and I think we proved that in Tasmania when after our DNF in Race 1 we were one short forcing us to survive on four out of the five allocated. As a race car it’s a good package and easy on its tyres.
“The top 10 is my aim. We have one eye on Pro-Am, but the other is firmly on getting further up the field and we won’t stop until we get there.
“Phillip Island rewards commitment, but is a fun circuit and a track I certainly love going around, so I’m keen to get behind the wheel.”