The final 40 minute practice session at the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour brought a few more smiles to the Pollicina Motorsports camp, as they again enjoyed the wet conditions that dawned Mount Panorama this morning.
Although the trio of Jim Pollicina, John O’Dowd and Simon Middleton are still learning the car, the final session was the perfect opportunity to learn more of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII’s limits, particularly with the all wheel drive system. They were also hopeful that they can finally crack into the top 20, after knocking on the door in the first two sessions yesterday.
Like the previous two practice sessions, Middleton started off the session in the Lancer and it also gave him the first opportunity to learn the car’s superior grip and handling in the wet conditions. Getting out of the car almost 20 minutes into the session to hand over to O’Dowd, the Geelong-based driver was both happy and impressed.
Stepping out of the car, Middleton voiced similar impressions to what Pollicina said yesterday about driving the Lancer in the wet. He mentioned that as long as he kept the car off the white lines, the car drove beautifully and handled like an all wheel drive car should in the wet. He was also impressed with he well it stuck through The Chase on the wet track.
O’Dowd took over the car and completed the 40 minute session which allowed him to gain more wet track time."The car is pretty good package, it's just a matter of getting used to these conditions," O'Dowd said. "We had a good run, I am pretty happy with that. Being in the top 20 gives us more confidence." Owner-driver Pollicina sat out the final practice session, opting to allow Middleton and O’Dowd to complete the final practice session whilst he concentrated on preparing his HSV VY GTS for the Improved Production support races for which he has entered. As a result of this, it’s given him plenty of track time in readiness for this weekend and is hopeful for a wet race tomorrow.
Qualifying for tomorrow’s 12 Hour race begins at 1:30pm this afternoon.