Round 1 Australian Supertourers

[John Firkins <firkins@eis.net.au>]

The opening round of the series was held over the w/e, with Audi running
the 2 fwd 98 BTCC cars for defending champ Brad Jones & newcomer Cameron.
I got about 20 minutes unrestricted access to the cars & an engineer before
getting kicked out by the rest of the team.

The biggest visual difference is the carbon/kevlar wheel housings & the
ducting for front brake cooling & a new rocker cover. The difference on the
track is another story.

As in previous years, the Oz series is the reverse of the BTCC with most
cars being privateers. Normally that means 4 or so factory cars  being at
least a second quicker than the remaining dozen. This year is different,
the cars to beat are a privately entered Peugot driven by BTCC refugee
Patrick Watts & a schnitzer BMW they are closely followed by last years
BTCC winning  Volvo, after them are the Audis then a second Volvo. The
second Volvo is hampered by its driver, but the Audis simply lack pace.

Admittedly the Audi pilots have a tough job getting used to fwd & the
introduction of a control tyre, but the team must have been dissapointed by
the gap in performance. They certainly made a lot of ground between
Thursday & Friday, but the cars were still off the pace come qualifying.

The races were only confirmation of practice for Audi, with the BMW running
away for a win in the 1st race after the Pug failed to start.  Brad Jones
must have been cursing TOCA for banning the quattros in the 2nd race, which
was on a damp track with intermittent rain. Patrick Watts drove brilliantly
to hold off the BMW from start to finish with the Audis having a lonely
race in 4th & 5th.

All is not lost but, Jones is held in high regard by Audisport, (hence the
new cars), & if anyone can get the cars competitive he will. When Audi
first entered supertouring in Oz, it was at Brads instigation. He took a
pair of uncompetitive 80's & developed them into class leaders in the space
of a season. Hopefully he can do the same this year.

Cheers

John Firkins