Jaylec Automotive Electrical V8 Supercar driver Tim Blanchard has banked another strong performance in the 2012 Dunlop Series with a 6th place finish in Race 1 and a 2nd place in Race 2 at Barbagallo Raceway today. After a strong showing yesterday in practice the MW Motorsport team were a little perplexed during qualifying where Tim wound up in P10. Tim and the crew were confident in a good race package however and this proved to be correct.
As the cars entered the new Barbagallo Pit Lane the rain moved in throwing most teams race strategy up in the air. It was however a wet race and the #27 Jaylec Falcon lined up on row 5 as the rain increased.
The start was frantic with cars disappearing in the spray and a Safety Car was soon dispatched as track officials recovered McGill’s slick shod Falcon from the sand. Blanchard was up to P9 at the restart and immediately pounced on Andy Jones in a storming move at Turn 1. The leaders were just out of reach but Blanchard pressed on picking off Percat and Wood to move into 6th position.
“We did struggle a bit in Qualifying but the race pace was good. It was good to get past guys in front of me and set ourselves up for Race 2. The conditions were very tricky but the Jaylec Falcon is working well in the wet.” Tim said. “I think if I had of started up the front we would have been a good chance for a top 3 but none the less we are in pretty good shape” Tim concluded.
Race 2 was the ‘reverse grid’ where the top 10 finishes from race one invert. Tim started out of P5 and avoided a start line accident to move to fourth on Lap 1 and line up behind the Safety Car. Once racing resumed, Tim fired into second position, which he held to the race end. The fine drive in both races today has put Blanchard’s Dunlop Series Championship back on track moving from 19th to 11th in the point score.
“We had good pace and improved the car a lot from qualifying and we were able to pick our way up to second place.” Tim commented. “The sixth place start tomorrow is a little further back than we would have liked, but all the top 6 are very close on points” Blanchard concluded.
