Batesy has a well-earned reputation for making gun starts, and is looking for more of the same at Sandown this weekend. READ our preview below and LIKE this post to wish Tony all the best! Bates Looks for More Gun Starts at Sandown Tony Bates says strong qualifying and good starts will be two of the ingredients for success when he takes to Sandown Raceway for Round 6 of the Porsche Carrera Cup at Melbourne’s Sandown Raceway this weekend. Bates, currently third in the Carrera Cup Elite Class standings aboard his Alternative Freight Services/All Star Equipment Sales Porsche 911 GT3, scored a race win in the previous round at Sydney Motorsport Park and was on target to dominate the event before being turned around by a Professional Class competitor in Race 2. Despite the setback, he recovered to finish second overall and make up significant ground on the points leader Stephen Grove. He is hoping for a clean run this weekend. “Our pace at SMP was excellent in both wet and dry conditions, and I was mixing it with the Pro Class drivers which probably proved to be our undoing in the end,” Bates said. “Hopefully we avoid the bad luck this weekend, but Sandown is a track I enjoy and where I have always performed well. I won a couple of Commodore Cup races in 2009 and 2012 and finished in the top 10 in the V8 Supercar Development Series in 2011. “There are not many passing opportunities at Sandown so it’s important to qualify well.” One of Bates’ strengths throughout his racing career has been his starts, especially in Commodore Cup where he gained a reputation for rocketing past his rivals off the line. He said the Carrera Cup starts have taken a little longer to perfect. “You can’t ride the clutch in the Porsche like you could in the Commodore Cup car or V8 Supercar, so it’s taken me a while to learn the best technique, but in the last couple of rounds I’ve really been nailing the starts and hope to continue the trend at Sandown,” Bates said. This weekend’s event consists of three sprint races and will be the final hit-out for the Porsche drivers before the penultimate round of the series at the Holy Grail of motorsport, Mount Panorama, supporting the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 in October. Event Schedule Friday, 12 September 11:35 – Practice 1 (20 min) 15:30 – Practice 2 (20 min) Saturday, 13 September 12:50 – Qualifying (20 min) 15:35 – Race 1 (17 laps) Sunday, 14 September 9:35 – Race 2 (17 laps) 12:25 – Race 3 (17 laps) TV Broadcast Details Saturday, 13 September 15:35 – Race 1 live (7MATE) Sunday, 14 September 11:30 – Race 2 delayed (7MATE)
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 09:30:51 +0000
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