SP Tools Racing's Maro Engel pilots his #9 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG V8 Supercar in Austin on Saturday.
// Friday's Practice Sessions
The 28 Australian V8 Supercars drivers have warmed up (literally) and are ready to race in the Austin 400 at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas this weekend. With increasingly warming temps, fans sought out shade and cold drinks as they welcomed the Australian Sportscar series to American soil for the first time.
The fastest lap time on Friday was set by Red Bull Racing Australia's Craig Lowndes #888 in his Holden Commodore with a lap time of 1:32.9042 in Practice 4. Lowndes was the fastest of the day and the first driver to get his lap time down to the "32s" on the shorter "National" track setup for the Austin 400. After Friday's practice session, Lowndes shared:
We spent three sessions redesigning the car a little, going up and down in spring rates but we ended up with a pretty happy balance. In session four we were debating whether to run a second set of tires but we tried it and the car was really hooked up. I made a couple of little mistakes but we're still learning the track. The car was sensational on that second set. The way the tire hooks up here to the track is very different to what we've had in the past.
Setting the fastest paces in Practices 1-4 on Friday were:
Practice 1: Fabian Coulthard #14, in a Holden Commodore for Lockwood Racing: 1:34.3942
Practice 2: Scott McLaughlin #33, in a Holden Commodore for Fujitsu Racing GRM: 1:34.2269
Practice 3: Shane Van Gisbergen #94, in a Holden Commodore for Tekno Autosports: 1:34.5358
Practice 4: Craig Lowndes #888, in a Holden Commodore for Red Bull Racing Australia: 1:32.9042
// Click HERE to see a gallery of images from Friday's practice sessions
// Saturday's Qualifying Results
After a morning of Porsche GT3 Cup Practice and Qualifying and Pirelli TC/TCB Races, the V8 Supercars returned to the track on Saturday for two 15 minute qualifying sessions, Qualifying Q4 and Qualifying Q5. These sessions determine the drivers' respective starting positions for Race 13 and Race 14 of the V8 Supercars series.
Fabian Coulthard qualified to start on pole for Race 13 and had this to share:
To start the first race here at the Austin 400 on pole is a pretty awesome feeling. There’s not much pace left to find. It’s all about how many sets of tyres you use to set your time. We went out on old tyres for the start of the second session, just didn’t even worry about it and used one set of tyres. So we have a pretty good tyre allocation left so a bit of strategy there as well. It is obviously going to be about a race of whose tyres last the longest and you are going to have to have a good pit stop too. So it’s anybody’s race.
Qualifying Q4 results, which determine the drivers' starting positions for Race 13, scheduled to start at 3:15PM CDT on Saturday:
- Fabian Coulthard - 1:32.5934
- Jamie Whincup - 1:32.7371
- Craig Lowndes - 1:32.8524
- David Wall - 1:33.0229
- Will Davison - 1:33.1045
- Jonathon Webb - 1:33.2232
- Mark Winterbottom - 1:33.2757
- Garth Tander - 1:33.3920
- Shane Van Gisbergen - 1:33.4124 - EXCLUDED Penalty Applied
- Rick Kelly - 1:33.4769
- Alexandre Premat - 1:33.5534
- Russell Ingall - 1:33.6122
- Tony D'Alberto - 1:33.6742
- James C0urtney - 1:33.6799
- Scott McLaughlin - 1:33.7006
- James Moffat - 1:33.7009
- Todd Kelly - 1:33.7171
- Alex Davison - 1:33.8066
- David Reynolds - 1:33.8392
- Chaz Mostert - 1:33.9123
- Jason Bright - 1:34.1838
- Maro Engel - 1:34.2590
- Dean Diore - 1:34.2973
- Scott Pye - 1:34.3187
- Michael Caruso - 1:34.3837
- Tim Slade - 1:34.5404
- Lee Holdsworth - 1:34.9838
- Tim Blanchard - 1:35.2216
Van Gisbergen was later excluded from Qualifying Q4 results because his team worked on his car outside of the allowable timeframe. Qualifying Q5 results, which determine the drivers' starting positions for Race 14, scheduled to start at 5:00PM CDT on Saturday:
- Jamie Whincup - 1:32.0311
- Craig Lowndes - 1:32.2909
- Fabian Coulthard - 1:32.3257
- Shane van Gisbergen - 1:32.6266
- Jonathon Webb - 1:32.7499
- Rick Kelly - 1:32.9020
- Will Davison - 1:32.9060
- Alexandre Premat - 1:32.9244
- Scott McLaughlin - 1:33.0050
- James Moffat - 1:33.0305
- David Wall - 1:33.0403
- Mark Winterbottom - 1:33.0937
- Tony D'Alberto - 1:33.3394
- Michael Caruso - 1:33.3425
- David Reynolds - 1:33.3427
- Todd Kelly - 1:33.3947
- Chaz Mostert - 1:33.3956
- Jason Bright - 1:33.4067
- James Courtnery - 1:33.4558
- Scott Pye - 1:33.5435
- Garth Tander - 1:33.5554
- Russell Ingall - 1:33.8197
- Alex Davison - 1:33.8232
- Lee Holdsworth - 1:33.9573
- Maro Engel - 1:34.3014
- Tim Blanchard - 1:34.3039
- Dean Fiore - 1:34.4308
Just a reminder that a total of four V8 Supercars races will be run at the Austin 400 race at COTA this weekend: Races 13 and 14 on Saturday and Races 15 and 16 on Sunday. The Austin 400 will also be broadcast on SPEED TV on Sunday, May 19 at 8AM and 3PM CDT, on Thursday, May 23 at 7:30PM CDT, and on Friday, May 24 at 11AM and 9PM CDT.