Erebus duo Lee Holdsworth and Will Davison are optimistic of carrying their strong practice pace into Saturday qualifying at the Castrol Townsville 500.
After claiming the Mercedes squad’s first one-two session result of the season in final practice, the Queensland-based team are out to prove the speed is genuine.
Erebus have bounced back from their disastrous opening to the previous Darwin round when both E63 AMGs developed power steering issues, cruelling the Saturday sprints for Holdsworth and Davison.
While the duo acknowledge practice does not automatically translate to weekend success, they believe the team is capable of delivering strong results.
“It’s a good boost for the team at the start of the weekend,” Holdsworth said.
“I just hope we can carry that form through and the car feels quite good.
“(I) still feel there is a bit of room for improvement as I’m sure everyone else does.
“It’s exciting for our team when you hit little milestones like that.
“It means a lot to everyone involved to see that we moving forward and hitting new goals.”
Holdsworth, who claimed Erebus’ first race win at Winton this year, scored his first career pole at the Reid Park venue in 2009 when he was with Garry Rogers Motorsport, while Davison won the Saturday race in Townsville last year for Ford Performance Racing.
Davison said that while it is a tall order to win, the practice pace is encouraging.
“It does mean something for the weekend,” Davison said.
“It gives everyone a pep in their step. It’s not false.
“I know the speed we had on old tyres as well.
“We’ve got to carry it on tomorrow. But either way we’ll pushing for a podium which would be a great result.”
“We’ve tried a few things today. And in particular we know we’ve got some big things to come in the next few events.”
A fourth practice is scheduled for tomorrow ahead of qualifying for the twin 44-lap sprint races around the 2.86km circuit.
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