Jim Beam Racing’s Steven Johnson sits in 10th place on the V8 Supercar Drivers Championship table after Races 8 and 9 at Perth today.
A 20 minute morning qualifying session set the grid for both races with the drivers’ fastest lap determining their starting position for Race 8 and second fastest, Race 9.
A strong session from Johnson set him at P6 for both races.
“We’ve qualified top 6 the last four out of five races,” said Johnson.
“It’s definitely our aim to maintain that consistency for the rest of the season.”
A fiery collision between Karl Reindler and Steve Owen at the start of Race 8 left both cars incinerated and a full restart was ordered by the stewards.
Johnson held position for the first 9 laps before slipping back to 9th by lap 11.
“We just didn’t manage to get things quite right for this morning’s race,” He said.
“I didn’t have the pace that some of the other guys had and we weren’t getting the best out of the soft tyres.”
Johnson came in on lap 16 for tyres and fuel and ran the mid part of the race in 11th before tyre wear late on saw him finish out the race in 14th place.
“This was the first all soft tyre race that we’ve had here,” he said.
“So in that respect it was a bit of a learning curve for all the teams.”
Race 9 saw an improvement in pace and tyre wear for Johnson’s #17 Falcon FG.
Again starting P6, Johnson Jumped Craig Lowndes on lap one before settling in to chase James Courtney, finally nabbing 4th place on lap 18.
Johnson lost four seconds on his pit stop on lap 26 when he was forced to come in on an angle to avoid equipment in the neighbouring pit bay.
He came out behind Lowndes and Courtney in sixth, where he would finish out the race.
“It wasn’t a bad result,” said Johnson.
“The car was quick and it was a big improvement on this morning.
“We’ve got some good points out of this weekend and we know we cn match it with the front runners.”
Team mate James Moffat had a mixed result in qualifying, starting P12 for Race 8 and P21 for Race 9.
“Unfortunately we didn’t get a consistent run” said Moffat
“We were reasonably happy with P12 but obviously we would have liked to have been further up the grid for Race 9.”
Moffat got off to a steady start but lost one place in the opening lap skirmish.
He held pace until lap 15 when he lost position to Russell Ingall and Fabian Coulthard.
After pitting on lap 23, Moffat’s fresh tyres helped him climb back to 12th place, which he maintained until lap 40.
However tyre degradation in the final laps saw Moffat lose track position, the rookie crossing the finishing line in 17th position.”
“We just didn’t have the pace at the end to hold off the field,” said Moffat.
“But it’s another race under my belt and I’m learning more every time I’m out there.”
With a P21 start in Race 9, Moffat had his work cut out for him.
A slow start off the grid saw him slip to P25 by lap 3 but the rookie maintained his composure and set about chasing the field.
He passed Webb on lap 11 but said post-race that he didn’t have the car speed to be truly competitive with the field.
“Pace was the real problem today,” said Moffat.
“We were pushing as hard as possible but the speed just wasn’t there.”
After pitting for fresh tyres and fuel on Race 24, the series debutante held his ground before making a late charge to finish P21 in only his second soft tyre outing in the V8 Supercar Championship Series.
“The car wasn’t as good today as it has been,” said Moffat.
“But we finished all three races this weekend; we’ve got a clean car and got some points in the bag.”
A 20 minute morning qualifying session set the grid for both races with the drivers’ fastest lap determining their starting position for Race 8 and second fastest, Race 9.
A strong session from Johnson set him at P6 for both races.
“We’ve qualified top 6 the last four out of five races,” said Johnson.
“It’s definitely our aim to maintain that consistency for the rest of the season.”
A fiery collision between Karl Reindler and Steve Owen at the start of Race 8 left both cars incinerated and a full restart was ordered by the stewards.
Johnson held position for the first 9 laps before slipping back to 9th by lap 11.
“We just didn’t manage to get things quite right for this morning’s race,” He said.
“I didn’t have the pace that some of the other guys had and we weren’t getting the best out of the soft tyres.”
Johnson came in on lap 16 for tyres and fuel and ran the mid part of the race in 11th before tyre wear late on saw him finish out the race in 14th place.
“This was the first all soft tyre race that we’ve had here,” he said.
“So in that respect it was a bit of a learning curve for all the teams.”
Race 9 saw an improvement in pace and tyre wear for Johnson’s #17 Falcon FG.
Again starting P6, Johnson Jumped Craig Lowndes on lap one before settling in to chase James Courtney, finally nabbing 4th place on lap 18.
Johnson lost four seconds on his pit stop on lap 26 when he was forced to come in on an angle to avoid equipment in the neighbouring pit bay.
He came out behind Lowndes and Courtney in sixth, where he would finish out the race.
“It wasn’t a bad result,” said Johnson.
“The car was quick and it was a big improvement on this morning.
“We’ve got some good points out of this weekend and we know we cn match it with the front runners.”
Team mate James Moffat had a mixed result in qualifying, starting P12 for Race 8 and P21 for Race 9.
“Unfortunately we didn’t get a consistent run” said Moffat
“We were reasonably happy with P12 but obviously we would have liked to have been further up the grid for Race 9.”
Moffat got off to a steady start but lost one place in the opening lap skirmish.
He held pace until lap 15 when he lost position to Russell Ingall and Fabian Coulthard.
After pitting on lap 23, Moffat’s fresh tyres helped him climb back to 12th place, which he maintained until lap 40.
However tyre degradation in the final laps saw Moffat lose track position, the rookie crossing the finishing line in 17th position.”
“We just didn’t have the pace at the end to hold off the field,” said Moffat.
“But it’s another race under my belt and I’m learning more every time I’m out there.”
With a P21 start in Race 9, Moffat had his work cut out for him.
A slow start off the grid saw him slip to P25 by lap 3 but the rookie maintained his composure and set about chasing the field.
He passed Webb on lap 11 but said post-race that he didn’t have the car speed to be truly competitive with the field.
“Pace was the real problem today,” said Moffat.
“We were pushing as hard as possible but the speed just wasn’t there.”
After pitting for fresh tyres and fuel on Race 24, the series debutante held his ground before making a late charge to finish P21 in only his second soft tyre outing in the V8 Supercar Championship Series.
“The car wasn’t as good today as it has been,” said Moffat.
“But we finished all three races this weekend; we’ve got a clean car and got some points in the bag.”