"To be able to salvage sixth place on what was quite a disastrous day is a credit to the team," Davison admitted, "We passed a hell of a lot of cars today to finish where we did. Our car got better and better as the race went on, but we just had no luck with the tyres. I don't know what it was, but it definitely had a huge effect on our overall result."
The second FPR entry, crewed by V8 irregulars Dean Canto and Luke Youlden took a solid seventh place finish, with another unheralded pairing - Jack Perkins and Nathan Pretty - crossing the line in eighth. Veteran Jason Bright, running with development series stat Adam Macrow, finished ninth, while the Glenfords Racing Ford of Fabian Coulthard and Alex Davison rounded out the top ten.
While the result continued Davison's impressive record at Mount Panorama, it was a case of what might have been, with fuel pick-up problems costing the team a probable top five finish. The Glenfords duo ran impressively throughout the race, but Davison had to pit from third place on lap 125, just outside the window to complete the race on one more tank of fuel. Coulthard pitted during the following safety car period to take on more fuel, relinquishing track position as various pit strategies played out, but had recovered to sit seventh in the dying laps, before being forced to pit at the start of the final lap for another top-up.
"It's not the result we deserved, unfortunately," Davison sighed, "We had a problem with the fuel pick-up system, which wasn't picking up the last couple of laps in the tank. My first stint ended early when we got a puncture, so that and, having to pit a couple of laps early each time, took us out of the window to do the race on five stops. We were having some problems with the reserve tank as well, so Fabian had to pit twice during his stint at the end. The car was good and we had strong pace, we were up there and on for a legitimate top five."
