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Season launched in style as FG X hits Sydney Motorsport Park - video

HMAS Canberra is the largest and newest ship in the Australian fleet and marked the ideal location to unveil the newest V8 Supercar.

Mark Winterbottom, Prodrive Racing Australia Ford

Mark Winterbottom, Prodrive Racing Australia Ford

Supercars

Mark Winterbottom, Prodrive Racing Australia Ford
Mark Winterbottom, Prodrive Racing Australia Ford
Mark Winterbottom, Prodrive Racing Australia Ford
Mark Winterbottom, FPR Ford, Jamie Whincup, Red Bull Holden, Marcos Ambrose, Team Penske Ford
Mark Winterbottom, FPR Ford, Jamie Whincup, Red Bull Holden, Marcos Ambrose, Team Penske Ford
Ford Falcon FG X
Ford Falcon FG X
Chaz Mostert, Prodrive Racing Australia Ford
Chaz Mostert, Ford Performance Racing
Mark Winterbottom, FPR Ford
Mark Winterbottom, FPR Ford
Race winner Chaz Mostert celebrates
Race winner Chaz Mostert celebrates
Race winner Chaz Mostert celebrates
Mark Winterbottom and Steve Owen
Race winner Chaz Mostert, Ford Performance Racing celebrates

Prodrive Racing (Australia) has officially kicked off season 2015 with the first day of the two-day V8 Supercars SuperTest wrapping up at Sydney Motorsport Park.

The day marked the on-track debut of the highly-anticipated new FG X Falcon which Mark Winterbottom and Chaz Mostert to the wheel of, two days after officially launching the new car aboard HMAS Canberra.

The pair worked through a broad program on the car’s first day on track with Winterbottom and new engineer Jason Gray having their first day together while Mostert bedded in his brand new chassis.

A lot of others ran softs so that put us right down the order towards the end but we're actually pretty happy with our hard pace.

David Reynolds

Chief engineer Nathaniel Osborne was pleased with the day’s efforts which did not include any delays or significant issues.

“It's been good day, we've been productive and have done a lot of testing with the new cars,” Osborne said.

“It was pretty trouble free considering it's a big push to get two cars ready in such a small amount of time so we're pretty happy with it. We've still got two cars running at the end of the day and they're relatively fast and the drivers are comfortable that we've made a step forward for the year so hopefully we find ourselves further up the grid more often.

“We had a couple of issues with the body fit not being together all day but we're on top of that now and it's all sealed up so no dramas, the day has gone pretty smoothly.”

 

David Reynolds was reunited with his 2014 chassis as he continues with the FG for the opening few events.

He ended the day as the team’s top runner, able to get down to work with his familiar package alongside new engineer, Brad Wischusen.

“Today went well; it was the first day working with my new engineer, Brad, at track. He had a really good approach, he was really calm with no emotion so he does a really great job and I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Reynolds said.

“It was a good first day racing. The car isn't too bad but it could be a little bit faster. It looks like the other boys have had a good day in the FG X and they had a bit of success with that so we're looking alright.”

By comparison Mostert was encouraged by his first day with the FG X after the big launch with the Royal Australian Navy introduced the latest Ford V8 Supercar two days ago.

“Today was good, we had a few teething issues with the aero and things like that so they boys have a bit of work to do when we get back to the workshop to fix some things up but it was really good,” he reflected.

“The shift in the aero balance was what we needed. The car is looking promising. I don't think we’ve ever come to a test day here at Eastern Creek and been quite to competitive in practice so our program just had us on hards for the day because that's all we had.

“A lot of others ran softs so that put us right down the order towards the end but we're actually pretty happy with our hard pace. We've got a bit of homework to do tonight just to try and smooth the car out, we didn't do much setup stuff today so we'll do that and we'll see what we can roll out with tomorrow and have a bit of fun in the Super Shootout.”

The launch was the biggest in the team’s history and saw the two new FG Xs unveiled in front of a large contingent of dignitaries, media, commercial backers and sailors from the Navy.

HMAS Canberra is the largest and newest ship in the Australian fleet and marked the ideal location to unveil the newest V8 Supercar.

After months of planning and using a special harness to lift the two Fords the eight-stories to the flight deck, Winterbottom and Mostert revealed the latest racing colours after rising out of the ship’s main hanger on its helicopter lift.

Prodrive Racing

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