GREAT START
Season 2012 has now officially kicked off and it's certainly been a strong start from my perspective.
I've gotta say it's just great to be back in the car, and to be working with the FPR guys in a race environment again.
Sandown was a great kick-off to the year … from the moment we got in the car it was good, and we spent the day just fine-tuning it, as well as giving my enduro co-driver John McIntyre plenty of laps.
Ironically, after not raining in Melbourne for what seems like months, it rained at the Official Test Day and that hampered our program a bit, but it was the same for everyone. We got through most things we wanted to try, and found some things that'll be useful through the year.
No matter what tyres I was on the car felt good, and at the end of the day we thought we'd have a crack at a time … which turned out to be fastest of all, which is great. It gives us great confidence to carry into Clipsal in a few weeks' time.
Johnny put in some useful laps too, and he was very happy with the car, and very impressed after his experiences elsewhere last year.
Sandown drew a big crowd too, seemed even bigger than Eastern Creek last year, so I think these Test Days to launch the season are a great idea. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and it's a great way of seeing everyone's new livery … the field looks pretty good this year.
Speaking of new livery, we rolled our new look out to Trading Post about a week ago, and of course Sandown was the first public appearance. It's similar to last year but the Trading Post branding is stronger, and it's a much cleaner look, I really like it.
Clipsal is now less than three weeks away, and I can't wait. We're in very good shape and I feel confident this is going to be a big year.
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