WPS Racing has planted the seed for a successful weekend at the PlaceMakers V8 Supercars International after doing its bit for the environment before proceedings at Pukekohe Park Raceway in New Zealand today.
Brazilian Max Wilson was 18th in the #8 WOW Racing Falcon around the 2.81-kilometre Pukekohe circuit, with team-mate Jason Bargwanna 24th in the #10 WPS Racing Falcon.
Earlier in the day Bargwanna was part of a tree planting ceremony for the V8 Racing Green initiative at Pukekohe Hill School.
Bargwanna and Year Six student Sean Powell planted a tree in the school’s grounds this morning, along with other students from the school as well as V8 Supercar drivers Greg Murphy, Andrew Jones, Paul Radisich and Jason Richards.
The V8 Racing Green program is a joint project between BigPond, V8 Supercars and Future Climate Australia. The program, launched in March 2007 by the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Malcolm Turnbull, will entirely offset the carbon emissions from the V8 Supercar Championship Series in 2007.
This is the first time a motorsport series anywhere has made a season-long commitment to reduce its impact on the environment. The V8 Racing Green program will help educate millions of V8 Supercar fans across Australia and New Zealand about climate change at each V8 Supercar event.
Bargwanna showed pace early in today’s two and a half hour, limited lap practice session, with the former Bathurst winner sitting in the front half of the field for much of the first half of the session.
Wilson saved his best until late in the session, rising to 18th fastest on his penultimate lap of the day.
Todd Kelly was fastest in today’s practice session ahead of James Courtney and Mark Winterbottom. Tomorrow will see qualifying and the first of three races for the weekend held on what is Pukekohe’s last V8 Supercar round.
WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY …
Jason Bargwanna – #10 WPS Racing Falcon
“It was great to get out this morning and help the kids from Pukekohe Hill School plant some trees as part of the V8 Racing Green program, ” said Bargwanna.
“It’s a great initiative and I was happy to be a part of it. I’d love the guys from Future Climate Australia to come to my place and plant some trees. Young Sean was a bit of a pro with the shovel today. He did a great job.
“On track today we had a challenging day but accomplished some important things in getting the car to where we want it.
“We showed some good pace early and didn’t quite manage to punch out a faster time like some at the end of the session.
“I’m still confident that we can be in the front half of the field tomorrow. We’ll work at getting the cars a little better for qualifying and then see what we can achieve in the first race. ”
Max Wilson – #8 WOW Racing Falcon
“We managed to put it together right at the end of the session there, ” said Wilson.
“We’ve still got further work to do but we made a couple of steps forward in the last part of practice.
“The WOW car gradually got better over the session and we made some positive changes that found us some speed.
“We were strong here in qualifying last year and will be looking to progress as far as possible through the qualifying session tomorrow heading into Race 1. ”
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