As the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour moves into its fifth hour, the fourth hour was another good one for Pollicina Motorsports. Just five minutes after the race ticked over three hours, Simon Middleton came in on lap 62 to hand over to Jim Pollicina. The timing also couldn’t be better, because when Middleton came in for the team’s second stop, the FG Ford Falcon Ute of Ben Dunn/Jack Elsegood/Andrew Fisher spun into the sand trap at Hell Corner.
This meant that any time lost in the pits was minimal, as it was in their first stop. Other than the driver change to Pollicina, the only work needed on the car was to refuel the tank to capacity. The mood down in the pit garage after the stop was really good and so too was the mood of Middleton.
“I’ve really come to grips with the car now,” Middleton said. “The car is really good around here, the track is still a bit greasy offline so it is a bit difficult to pass. But all in all, the car is just quick. It’s good on its fuel and its tyres, so if we can keep it straight we can hope for a realistic top and even maybe a top five.”
Like Middleton and John O’Dowd before him, Pollicina has played the conservative card out on track. The NSW Combined Touring Champion has made few errors during his stint and gained a place into the top ten following the demise of Hankook’s Peter Conroy in the sand trap at Murrays Corner midway through hour four.
Currently, they remain in tenth position, two laps down on the still current leader, Team Mitsubishi Ralliart’s Rod Salmon. Pollicina will remain in the car until halfway through hour five, when O’Dowd will jump back in for his second stint.
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