‘ Iceman ‘ feels the heat

WPR RACING'S local competitor Damien White had a tough day at the office in Round 2 of the Fujitsu V8 Supercar series at Wakefield Park last weekend.

White was searching for grip during Saturday's practice and Qualifying sessions, but WPR Racing's engineer Des Conway said "grip will come and not to chase the track, the track will get better" and White was pleased that it did.

After Qualifying 13th, only .5 off pole, Damien and the Selectv Holden were then relegated up to 12th position for the start of race one after another competitor was penalised and lost 10 positions.

Damien made a blinding start and cut his way through the middle of two cars and had grabbed four spots before the first kink only to be hit on the outside rear by Shannon O'Brien and spun off the track.

"Maybe it was payback for the contact I had with him at Adelaide, although I served a drive through for that, but to turn someone around in front of a fast approaching field at the start of a 17 lap race shows a lack of smarts," Damien said.

After he restarted the car and hauled it back on track he was in last place half a lap down on the second last car.

He lived up to his nickname "Iceman" though, keeping his cool and storming backthrough the field passing 14 cars to finish 18th, setting the fastest lap of the race along the way.

"A tough race but also satisfying in that it dispelled the myth that you can't pass at Wakefield Park," he said.

"Eighteenth earns you no points for the Championship, but fastest race lap gives the team a good shot of confidence," he concluded.

Lining up for race two from grid 18, Damien was confident of making good progress, as he knew the Selectv Supercar had excellent race pace.

After a hectic opening lap the race soon settled into a rhythm where Damien felt comfortable and he moved forward 10 positions to finish 8th.

"Apart from a crazy first lap where I used first gear about four times it was an event free race," he said.

"Again we passed plenty of cars showing we can race well, but it's a shame that O'Brien put us behind the eight ball in Race one", said Damien after the race.

His 18th and 8th earned Damien a 13th starting position for Race three.

Damien's instructions where clear; to bring the car home and bank some points.

The local speed demon moved the Selectv car into 8th position and was looking to add more scalps to his weekend tally of 30 cars passed, until the safety car came out with six laps to go and that's how the race finished.

WPR Racing will now use the seven week break before Round three of the Fujitsu Series at Winton to conduct more testing.