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.
