Category Archives: Adam Bressington

Adam Bressington Update– Bathurst

ADAM BRESSINGTON AND THE BANDIT CHIPPERS Holden Monaro GTS 350 just missed out on a podium finish at the seventh round of the Touring Car Masters which was a major support event to the Supercheap Auto 1000 at Bathurst last weekend.
 
After qualifying eighth in a field of 27, Bressington and the mighty Jim Morton-owned Monaro improved one place off the start and held position when the safety car was called after a lap one accident at the top of the famous Mt Panorama circuit. Three laps at reduced pace followed before the race was called . . . several laps short of its scheduled length.
 
The Bandit Chippers outfit were off the outside of the front row for the second race and trailed race leader Mark King and his Chev Camaro through the opening lap. Bressington took the race lead on lap two, just before a big shunt on Conrod Straight brought out another safety car.
 
By the time the carnage was cleared, there was just one lap at pace remaining. Bressington led to Hell Corner on the final occasion but could not hold out the more powerful XB Falcon of Eddie Abelnica on the climb up Mountain Straight. Across the top Bressington was all over the back of the Ford coupe, but passing places were negligible. The Monaro finished 0.4 seconds adrift of the winner and over a second in advance of the third placed Jason Gomersall Holden Torana.
 
The Bandit Chippers Holden Monaro led the third and final race, and series heavy weight John Bowe (Ford Mustang), around the 6.2 kilometre circuit for the first of seven laps. Bressington surrendered the lead to the reigning champion on the second lap and a glazed disc rotor impeded the Monaro’s lap times from there, the combination ultimately finished seventh.
 
It was the second time that Bressington has raced at the circuit in the popular series for older muscle cars, having competed in the corresponding round last year in a Chev Camaro. Last year he finished the round fifth, whereas this time out he went one better with fourth overall.
 
“The Bandit Chippers Holden Monaro had a couple of updates since the last round and apart from our brake problem, ran faultlessly throughout the weekend,” Bressington said.

“We missed out on being on the podium by just four points which was pretty disappointing but we were second in Pro-Am for the weekend.

“It was nice to be mixing it at the front rather than battling in the mid-pack, and we wanted a top-five finish for the round so to finish fourth was a great result,” he added.

“It has been a difficult year but the great work from Barrel, Joe and Dash at HiTech Motorsport, Superior Automotive where Rodney and Andrew were exceptional, and Bernie at Rams Head Services, were well-reward at the best track in the country, namely Bathurst,” Bressington concluded.

Adam Bressington Update

IT ALL CAME together for the Bandit Chipper Holden Monaro HQ and Adam Bressington in round four of the Touring Car Masters at Queensland Raceway on July 27-28 with the combination finishing fourth overall.
 
After qualifying eleventh in a the competitive field and a little over a one second off the fastest time of series leader and pole position earner John Bowe, Bressington carded with a ninth in race one, sixth in the second and fourth in the last.
 
“It was a good comeback for us after all the dramas we had at the last two rounds,” Bressington explained. “No doubt we had pace as we posted the third fastest lap time in race one.
 
“Given we missed a lot of development time in terms of how the car behaves and can fall away in a race, we were able to understand now where we need to go – no doubt we are learning more about its characteristics, particularly in the braking department.
 
“It was also pleasing to be able to dice with the heavy hitters in the category, like John Bowe, Jim Richards and Andrew Miedecke, but no doubt the most pleasing aspect over the weekend was to have (car owner) Jim Morton out to see it going around,” Bressington added.
 
Jim Morton has been very ill and in hospital after being diagnosed with asbestos poisoning and recently had a lung removed. But he made the journey out to the Ipswich race track to witness the successful return of the Bandit Chipper team.
 
 

Chevy Racing–Corvette Racing–Upcoming Le Mans

CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Oliver Gavin Q&A
Ahead of 12th Le Mans start with Corvette Racing
 
LE MANS, France (June 16, 2013) – Oliver Gavin’s Le Mans career with Corvette Racing reaches the “dandy dozen” level this year when the Englishman makes his 12th start at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 22. The four-time winner – who drives the No. 74 Compuware Corvette C6.R with Tommy Milner and Richard Westbrook – discusses the challenge of Le Mans.
 
Question: How important was the victory at the Sebring 12 Hours in March, and can you take anything from that to Le Mans?
Oliver Gavin: The momentum we gained at Sebring can put us in good stead for Le Mans. I think it’s something that will give us a certain amount of confidence, especially coming off the battles of winning the ALMS championship last year. Tommy and I have really established a very good partnership. We seem to work really well together. Some races, we are right together in terms of lap time and that’s fantastic; it’s happening more and more now. It’s great to see that this partnership is working so well.
 
Q: What is the secret to Corvette Racing’s success?
OG: It starts with the people at the top – those who are running the program whether it is people like Doug Fehan (program manager), Gary Pratt (team manager) and Doug Louth (engineering manager). They do the basics very, very well. They aren’t trying to overcomplicate things. They know they don’t have to re-engineer the wheel. They aren’t trying to find a silver bullet. They know that to win the 24 Hours, you have to have good pit stops, cars that are strong and reliable, and drivers who can drive them. You have to have momentum going into it where everyone is confident and comfortable with their jobs. That’s the reason Corvette has been so successful. It’s nothing secret.
 
Q: With all the depth in the GTE Pro class, do you think the strongest competitor may come from within your own team with the No. 73 car?
OG: They have two of the most experienced drivers in the whole field in Antonio (Garcia) and Jan (Magnussen). I’ve never driven with Antonio but I’ve driven with Jan for four years off and on so I know how strong a competitor he is. It’s a huge amount of fun racing with and against him. Antonio is much the same. Whereas Jan can be a bit bullish, feisty and will hound you throughout, Antonio operates a bit under stealth. He is an assassin who creeps up on you, bangs you over the head and passes you. He’s a very clever guy in the car and is calculating all the time in the car. That’s a great thing to have in a 24-hour race – thinking constantly about the long game and not necessarily what’s happening right in front of him at that point. And then Jordan (Taylor) is going from strength to strength. Sure, he’s lacking experience at Le Mans but he’s gaining confidence all the time. He is having great success in GRAND-AM and hopefully he comes to Le Mans full of confidence and ready to go. Jordan is learning all the time and is maturing. He is willing to listen and is great to have on board.
 
Q: So who do you think presents the biggest challenge at Le Mans?
OG: If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on Aston Martin (being the biggest threat). They’ve loaded everything up into this one year. It’s their 100th anniversary and it’s their opportunity to nail it for a victory at Le Mans. They have great lineups and experience. They were exceptionally fast at Sebring, Silverstone and Spa. For the first couple hours (at Le Mans) in 2012, I was racing against (Stefan) Mucke as I remember racing the Aston Martins in 2005-08. Porsche also have been very smart approaching this year. They aren’t to be underestimated and never show up just to bolster numbers. The real unknown is SRT and Viper. They have been fast in a lot of races. We don’t know whether that big 8-liter motor is going to make a difference. You can’t get away from the fact that Le Mans is all about horsepower. It’s all very new for them. Whether their car is right for 24 hours is the biggest question. Then there is Ferrari who always is right there. The class is incredibly strong. I can’t remember it being as strong as it is right now.”

Wood Brothers Racing–Strong Run, Short Day for Bayne

Trevor Bayne and the No 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion were flexing some Ford muscle in the early laps of Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Bayne started 15th after the line-up was set based on practice speeds, and after just seven laps, Bayne had the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion running in the top 10. He was in sixth place a lap later, and after dropping deep in the pack moved back into the top five by Lap 13.

As he entered Turn One on Lap 22, smoke billowed from the rear of his car, and he coasted onto pit road the victim of a rare engine failure.

“There was no warning at all,” Bayne said. “I got to Turn One, and it let go.”

Despite the disappointment – and the 43rd-place finish – Bayne was able to find some positives in an otherwise down day.

“We were lucky to hold onto it and keep this car in one piece because it’s going to be fast at Daytona in July,” he said. “I hate this for our team…It’s OK though because we’ve got good race cars.”

Team co-owner Eddie Wood, like his driver, tried to balance his disappointment over an early Talladega exit with the potential for a strong run at Daytona.

“We had a fast car, and we were doing the things we should have been doing early in the race,” Wood said. “We don’t know exactly what went wrong with the engine, but I do know it’s disappointing that we weren’t able to deliver a better result for Motorcraft and Quick Lane.”

He said he too is looking forward to getting the team’s best superspeedway car back on track at Daytona International Speedway in July.

“We thought we had a shot at the pole at Talladega and didn’t get to go for it because of rain,” he said. “So we’ll just take this car to Daytona and try to sit on the pole and win the race.”

But before they return to restrictor-plate racing, Bayne and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane crew will make their next Sprint Cup Series appearance on May 23-26 for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.