Andrew Thompson and Fabian Coulthard will go into Friday morning’s qualifying (Bahrain time) having set the 24th and 25th quickest times during first practice for the Gulf Air Desert 400 in Bahrain.
The Bahrain International Circuit is renowned for being hard on tyres and the move to the full 5.4km Grand Prix circuit for the first time by the V8 Supercars has only exacerbated the issue, both Thompson and Coulthard spending today’s session testing various setups designed to extend critical tyre life in preparation for the weekend’s two 200km races.
The event continues with qualifying, the Top 10 Shootout and Race 3 tomorrow, with the Middle East double header concluding with qualifying and Race 4 Saturday – the V8 Supercars then returning home for the first domestic round of the championship, the Clipsal 500, in Adelaide in two weeks time.
Fabian Coulthard, #24 Bundaberg Red Racing Holden Commodore VE:
“Early on we were had a lot of understeer and we needed a lot more turn in at the apex, but we just didn’t have it. When the ‘green’ tyre was good the car wasn’t at its best and once you’ve lost the advantage of the new tyre here you’re nowhere. Slowly we improved the Bundy Red Commodore, but now we’re lacking drive on the exit – the car’s a handful but I don’t think it’s just my car, it’s everybody else’s too. This is a tough place and it’s going to get down to who sorts the car out quickest on the day that’s going to be on top.”
Andrew Thompson, #10 Bundaberg Red Racing Holden Commodore VE:
“Like Abu Dhabi, the facilities and track here in Bahrain are world class. Again we’ve been spoilt with the quality of the venue. The track itself is tricky, very tricky, and the surface is very hard on the tyres. The drop off [in lap times] comes pretty quickly, after just a couple of laps – it’s massive, so it makes it extremely difficult. We tried to work through all that, trying a bunch of different things in setup. Tonight we will look at all the data we gathered and get ready for qualifying tomorrow before the race.”
