D’Alberto moves up at Winton – The Winton Wrap

It was an eventful round of racing out at Winton Raceway with Tony D’Alberto enjoying a successful run amidst all the action. The team had to contend with car issues in Race 1, leading to a finish in 24th. D’Alberto drove cleanly in Race 2 to finish in 16th and then went on to produce another great run in Race 3, bringing the car across the line in 14th.

Saturday began with qualifying where D’Alberto wrestled to produce more pace from the car. The #55 Bottle-O Commodore experienced some minor issues in terms of its set-up for the Winton circuit and this flowed through to the lap times produced. Despite the challenge faced by D’Alberto, he still managed to produce a fastest lap of 1:24.6713. Given the highly performance driven field, this time gave the team a start to Race 1 in 26th position.

It was a clean opening lap for D’Alberto amidst a fairly active field. D’Alberto kept his cool as other drivers fell victim to the circuit and took unplanned detours across the grass. This enabled a move to 23rd position on the opening lap.

The team performed a slick pitstop on lap 8, promptly returning the car to the field. As the race continued D’Alberto moved upwards, reaching 22nd by lap 21 and holding his ground for 13 laps before a slight dip back to 24th on lap 34.

D’Alberto clocked his fastest lap of the race on lap 11 in a time of 1:25.4146. D’Alberto unfortunately wasn’t able to make a big move forward in Race 1, but was still able to put in a consistent drive.

Trouble started early in Race 2 with drama unfolding on the opening lap. Cars tangled in the struggle to move forward, causing headaches for teams as the damage bill mounted. The safety car was hailed to herd up the field whilst the clean-up crew readied the track for a restart. D’Alberto circulated comfortably without any battle-scars on the car and patiently awaited his chance to make a climb.

After racing resumed D’Alberto made an early pitstop on lap 8. The #55 Bottle-O Commodore had vastly improved in performance following Race 1 and D’Alberto made full use of the extra acceleration at his disposal, cutting through the field with good passing maneuvers to reach 16th by lap 27, which he held to the close of the race.

D’Alberto carried his good form through to Race 3, streaking away from the grid to make up 4 positions in the opening lap. The car was still packing quite a punch, giving D’Alberto the pace he needed to apply pressure on the cars in front.

The team pitted on lap 11, and when D’Alberto returned to the track he was caught on cold tyres in front of 3 other cars and had to yield some of his ground. Not to be daunted, he built his charge back up to full speed and maintained the momentum of the day, getting an early grasp on 14th position on lap 21, which he carried through to the finish.

It was a great day for Rod Nash Racing where car and driver performance combined to make the perfect racing package, producing the desired result. The team will now shift their focus to Phillip Island in September, which offers the first of the endurance rounds and a different racing format to embrace.

Copyright © Rod Nash Racing 2008

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