Dariwn Preview

20 June 2007

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for missing the pre Eastern Creek update, I have had a very busy schedule lately and my feet didn't touch the ground before the last round.

Eastern Creek was definitely a weekend of highs and lows - we had the pace to run at the front all weekend and enjoyed the euphoria of standing on the podium. As you all well know an hour can be a lifetime in motorsport and that hour was all it took for the euphoric feeling to be replaced with that of disappointment when we were excluded from the final race for a very simple technical infringement on the car.

The penalty was imposed after the car was scrutineered post race and it was found we had accidentally fitted the incorrect rear brake rotors to the car before the final race. Although there was no performance gain (if anything it could have hampered performance), the rules are the rules and we lost the points from the final race and were thus pushed back to fifth overall for the weekend.

As I mentioned earlier this was a very simple mistake, that anyone could make and the team have implemented new procedures to ensure this doesn't happen again.

Triple Eight Race Engineering provide me with one of the best cars in pit lane and I know that they were as, if not more, disappointed than I was. That's all in the past now and we are looking to make amends at Hidden Valley. The main point is that we are still equal third in the championship and my own personal performance goals are still well within reach.

With the short turnaround I have only had a few days break and I am not heading into this round as fit and fresh as I would like therefore concentration will be the key to minimising mistakes. It is also important this weekend to keep level headed and stick to our plan to ensure we keep our championship momentum going.

I like the hot conditions as it really identifies the drivers that have done the hard work with their fitness. After Adelaide the team revised the cooling systems which will make my office a lot more comfortable this weekend.

We have really begun to reduce the gap to our competition and with Triple Eight winning at Hidden Valley last year we are quietly confident of a good result this weekend.

I hope you all have a safe and happy weekend and for those of you who won't be at the event be sure to tune into Channel 7 on Saturday and Sunday to watch the TeamVodafone #88 Falcon fly at Hidden Valley!

Cheers,
Jamie Whincup