05.09.2003  FURTHER AERODYNAMIC IMPROVEMENTS FOR PRODRIVE ARE ROLLED OUT DURING OPENING PRACTICE AT LAGUNA SECA

David Brabham in car 80 led the GTS class for most of the session, setting a time of 1m 23.405 towards the end, closely followed (at one stage by 0.004 seconds) by car 88.  Peter Kox set a fastest time of 1m 23.859.  Both Ferraris were just pipped to the top of the time sheets on the last lap by the Corvettes. The four Prodrive Ferrari drivers were not entirely happy with the balance of the car and feel that there is much more time to be gained once the data has been examined and work is done on the cars overnight. 

DAVID BRABHAM'S BIRTHDAY

David Brabham celebrates his 38th birthday today but is planning to extend the birthday celebrations with his family in Australia when he sees them next week.  He heads for his home country directly after this race to take part in the Sandown 500 event, part of the Australian Touring Car Series, driving a Ford Falcon for the Dick Johnson Racing team.  Ironically, one of his key competitors in the race will be Craig Lowndes who races for the Ford Performance Racing team, which is owned by Prodrive.

 “Winning at Road America gave the team a tremendous boost as they’d been very close to winning before and have had some great, competitive battles with Corvettes it was nice to finally get in front of them.  We’ve obviously come here to Laguna Seca hoping to repeat that. 

“After this race, I’ll be off to Australia, doing an Aussie V8 race in the Touring car series there which is one of the most competitive Championships in the world at the moment.  The chance to go back to Australia where I grew up and where I started my racing is always a bit special, so to be able to go down and do the Sandown 500 and the Bathurst 1000 in the same year is going to be pretty neat.” 

FURTHER AERO IMPROVEMENTS

The Prodrive Ferrari team will from this weekend be running a new evolution of the high downforce package introduced at Sonoma two months ago.  Most significantly it features a new rear wing, as well as some new suspension components 

IRL TEST FOR TOMAS ENGE

Could Tomas Enge get an unexpected birthday present next week in the shape of an IRL drive for 2004?  The Czech driver, who will be 27 on Thursday, 11th September, is testing that same day at the Fontana Motor Speedway with Panther Racing.  The team is looking to replace Sam Hornish who will be moving to Penske for next season’s Championship. Enge comes to Laguna hot on the back of his latest rallying success in the Czech Republic.  He finished 6th overall in last weekend’s Barum Rallye, driving a Skoda Octavia WRC car.