Homebush heartache
Monday 5 December
Dean Fiore and Triple F Racing endured a tough weekend at the office on the streets of Homebush on the weekend, in the team's last event prior to Dean moving to Jim Beam Racing in the 2012 season.
The #12 WesTrac Falcon showed promising speed in Friday's practice with the team trying a completely different setup in the four official practice sessions.
Dean started Saturday's 76 lap race in 20th position, and with a solid race car underneath him was showing extremely good race pace. This saw Dean running inside the top 10 for the majority of the race, where he was tucked up behind Craig Lowndes who went on to win the race. In the end, the race came down to a fuel management game and Dean dropped back to 11th in order to conserve fuel. Despite his and the team's best efforts, the #12 Falcon came to a heartbreaking stop 2 corners from the chequerd flag depriving the team of their best ever result.
Sunday's 20 minute qualifying session was peppered with red flag periods, one of which included Dean after he flew over the tyre bundle at the Turn 7 chicane. Despite the extensive air time that he received from the incident (including Sunday night's national news and Channel 7 Sunrise this morning), the car had a considerable amount of damage. The team did an exceptional job in getting the car turned around in the brief 3 hour timeframe between qualifying and the race, however due to the damage the car sustained from the incident the differential let go with 17 laps to go in the 250km race.
"I am disappointed we didn't go down this road with the setup earlier in the year as it was proving to give us a decent yield from the changes that we made.
"It was the best chance we had so far this year of finishing inside the Top 10 in both the races at Homebush, so I am disappointed that we didn't cotton onto this setup earlier in the year.
"I am so grateful for all of the support from WesTrac, Sitech, BMC and all my other partners throughout the 2010 & 2011 seasons.
"I also want to thank the boys at Triple F Racing who have worked tirelessly alongside of me for the past two years.
"And to the Perth based squad of my dad Frank, my brother's Todd and Paul and my marketing guru Hollie, I am eternally grateful for all their help and support."
Dean Fiore returns to the V8 Supercar Championship in the 2012 season under the Dick Johnson/ Jim Beam Racing banner which kicks off at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide from 1-4 March 2012.
Weekend of what could have been
Monday 21 November
Dean Fiore and Triple F Racing proved in Saturday's opening race at the Norton 360 Sandown Challenge, during tumultuous weather conditions, that they can hold their own against the V8 Supercars' best teams and drivers.
After qualifying in 21st position, the team devised a well planned pit strategy, which allowed Fiore to jump up to the front of the field where he stayed comfortably fighting it out for a top 6 position prior to pitting. The team made an exceptional pit stop and Fiore was out in 12th position in the dying laps of the race until a pushing Dumbrell fenced Fiore with only 3 laps remaining, denying the team of their best ever result.
Dumbrell was penalised for the incident, however it doesn't rectify Fiore's possible result.
Melbourne's weather dealt yet another card on Sunday, with both qualifying and the race run in dry conditions, meaning the team had to change the car's setup completely from Saturday's wet race.
Fiore was faring well at the beginning of Sunday's qualifying, and was sitting in the top 10 for some duration of the session, until a couple of changes on the car didn't go the way the team had hoped, which subsequently resulted in a 24th starting position for Sunday's 65 lap race.
On the opening lap of the race, Fiore sustained a knock to the front end which resulted in bent steering making it extremely hard to nurse around left hand corners. The team made the best adjustments they could during the scheduled pit stops but the cars handling was still appalling.
"It was another frustrating round for us, but we have definitely been more competitive in the last 2 rounds than we have been all year.
"Saturday's race was the scariest conditions I have ever driven in. To be pulling 6th gear going 240km/h sideways, whilst you cannot see in front of you was unbelievable.
"A ripper result really went begging for us on Saturday by no fault of our own. A top 12 result for a team like ours would've been phenomenal. There's definitely heartache when you get that close to a good result and think about what could have been," Fiore said.
The final round of the V8 Supercar Championship will be at Sydney Olympic Park in two weeks' time.
