Mark McNally was seventh fastest on the opening day of practice at Victoria’s Sandown Raceway for Round 3 of the 2008 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series.
McNally arrived at Sandown without ever having turned a wheel in a V8 Supercar at the historic circuit, and he took a liking to it almost immediately.
A wet track awaited the drivers for the first session of the day, although it dried throughout the session.
“It was really hard to get a clear lap in, ” Mark said.
“Even when it started to dry the racing line was the only place there was any grip.”
“If you got caught behind someone there was little you could do to get past.”
Mark was 15th in the opening session and happy with his first outing.
“The car was really good, I felt confident and know that we were heading in the right direction with the set-up.”
With clouds looming as Mark headed out for his second session it was important to get in a fast lap early before the track became wet.
And that is what Mark did; taking almost half a second off his earlier time to put him 7th fastest.
“I knew what I had to do in the second session, ” Mark said.
“I needed a fast lap before the rain came so I pushed hard early to get it.”
“The car is capable of more speed but traffic played a big part in the second session also.”
“If we match up all the best sectors we are looking at a substantially faster lap time and that is what we are hoping for in qualifying tomorrow. ”
Mark made it into the top 50% for qualifying which puts him with the fastest cars on the track, and with a lot less traffic he should be able to get the maximum from the car.
“Today was good but the real stuff starts tomorrow in qualifying, ” he said.
Mark also welcomes VDM Group and John Farrell to their list of valued supporters in 2008.
“We value all our sponsors and it is gretat to have VDM Group join us in our campaign this year. “
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