Ford Performance Racing team principal Tim Edwards says his squad is hopeful of returning to the top of the dais at Queensland Raceway after undergoing a productive test today at Winton.
The day saw FPR’s team drivers Mark Winterbottom, Will Davison and David Reynolds joined by their respective endurance co-drivers Steve Richards, John McIntyre and Dean Canto, as well as Dunlop Series runner Chaz Mostert.
The factory Ford squad’s first private test of the season follows a four-race streak in which its drivers have failed to turn front-row lockouts into race wins.
While unwilling to discuss the specifics of today’s program, Edwards told Speedcafe.com that the team had put off its first Winton running of the year until it had “many, many” new developments to trial.
“We’ve had no requirement to test up until now,” he said of the way the team has spread its three private test days throughout the year.
“We had a couple of dates booked but to be honest we didn’t actually have anything to test, and we had no intention of coming up here and just pounding around for the sake of it.
“We’ve had quite a few things that we’ve run through today, and all the cars have got through their individual test programs, which is encouraging.
“We’ve had perfect conditions up here today which is exactly what we needed for collecting data.”
The team is expected to use the remainder of the testing allocation for its current generation cars when it conducts two days of running prior to the Sandown 500 in early September.
