Wet weather and Mount Panorama are like two best friends who go hand in hand with one another. In the case of the second practice session at the 2010 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour, the pair worked wonders on the confidence for Pollicina Motorsports.
Although the issues of re-adjusting their driving styles and acclimatizing to a new car was still an issue for Jim Pollicina, John O’Dowd and Simon Middleton, the rain that fell in the second practice session allowed the trio to get gain some experience with the all wheel drive system in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII. Like the first session, Middleton began proceedings in the car doing two laps on green tyres to road them in for the 12 Hour on Sunday before handing the driving duties to O’Dowd.
It was at that point that the heavens opened. Although having experienced all wheel drive technology in the drive in tarmac rally and circuit racing form, the opportunity to drive in the wet and experience the true advantages of all wheel drive was invaluable to the West Australian. “It was unfamiliar territory for me to be in the car in the wet,” he said. “It seems to be a good little car in the wet, as it should be. Once I get a little bit more time in it, it’ll all be good.”
But O’Dowd’s stint wasn’t without its dramas. “I had a little incident on turn 2 (Griffins Bend). I braked too late, the back stepped out and I almost lost control. But it drives out of those situations, so it’s good.”
Pollicina complete the session in the wet and he too sampled wet conditions in all wheel drive car for the first time. Impressively, he adapted quite quickly to the conditions and set one of the fastest wet times in the session with a 3m06s lap near the end of the session. This put him in front of some of his more faster and competitive rivals in his class.
“The car feels great in the wet, as long as you keep it off the white lines,” Pollicina said. “The conditions really make up for the lack of power that we have got as well, so if we have a wet race, we’ll definitely be up there for a good top ten finish.”
In dry conditions, the trio finished 22nd overall with a time of 2m41.6575s, ahead of their Greg Murphy Racing stablemates Eric Bana/Tim Leahey/Peter Hill and Geoff Emery/Robert Wilson/Maurizio Fabris.
The final practice session for the 2010 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour begins first thing tomorrow morning at 7:30am and qualifying for Sunday’s race begins at 1:30pm