It’s heads down here at Red Bull Racing Australia as we put Sandown behind us and surrender to the call of the mountain.
We spoke to Lead Engineer Mark Dutton for some timely words of reflection on the Sandown 500 heading into the Bathurst 1000.
“With a less than ideal lead up to the opener of the Season of Endurance, Sandown was as cruel as it was kind. Car 888 made good ground throughout the weekend on car setup but a poor provisional qualifying position followed by a pitlane penalty saw Car 888 starting the main race in a position non-reflective of its actual car speed. Car 1 put aside its new chassis’ woes to roll out with good pace, and continued to build on this speed throughout the weekend, starting the main race from pole. Sunday brought little joy as neither strategy or luck went the way of Car 1 that was confidently leading for majority of the first half of the race. Car 888 managed to salvage some points, moving up through the race, but was no fairy-tale ending. With the amount of work that has been going on back at RBRA headquarters, Sandown was really a good prelude to the big one. The car speed we showed all weekend definitely sees us more confident as we prepare for Bathurst!”
