The Trico Trans Am Series heads to The Bend Motorsport Park this weekend for round 4 as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries event.
Jackson Rice, driver of the #7 Dream Racing Australia entry is eager to get back behind the wheel in hopes of collecting some valuable championship points, after finishing 11th at the previous round.
“Phillip Island was a bit of a challenging weekend for us,” said Rice.
“Tyre degradation was tricky and our blistered tyre on the Friday had a knock on effect for the rest of that weekend. So, hopefully we can redeem ourselves this weekend and give it a red-hot crack.”
Whilst it will be one of the very few tracks that Rice is yet to drive, there’s certainly no lack of confidence.
“We’ll be running the West circuit this weekend, so it’s slightly shorter than compared to the full Bend circuit. So, it cuts out the long right hander and the second half of sector two, so it’s going to really interesting,” said Rice.
“I actually haven’t driven at The Bend before, it’s one of the very few tracks that I haven’t been to; so, I’m really looking forward to it.
“From what I’ve been able to see; the surface is very similar to Queensland Raceway, so it seems to have a very polished surface and isn’t really a high degradation track. It’s also very similar to Winton, where there’s a lot of low-speed stuff, with quite tight direction change and a little bit of high speed with a big braking zone going into Turn 1 and a long straight. It’s going to make for close pack racing, so I’m excited for that.
“The long straight also gives us the ability to use a bit of aero similar to what we did at Phillip Island.
“I’m feeling very confident and I’m really looking forward to it.
“We managed to get three test days in between now and the last race and have been working a lot on set up and just getting comfortable in the car.”
Recently, Dream Racing Australia welcomed motorsport legend Glenn Seton to the team, with this weekend marks his first Trico Trans Am event at the helm.
“Having Glenn Seton come over to the team as a technical advisor has been amazing and has brought some new life to the team,” said Rice.
“He is a legend of the sport in his own right, but he was also successful in this category as a car preparer and engineer in its early days, so I’m very grateful to be learning from him.”
This weekend will also see the #7 Mustang sport an updated livery, with iconic Pedders Suspension and Brakes featuring as the major sponsor.
“It’s awesome to have Pedders Suspension and Brakes on board as our major sponsor this weekend, so a big thank you to Scott, Mark and Adam for all the support they’ve given me and continue to give. They were one of our very first sponsors and it’s great that we’ve been able to continue this relationship with such an renowned brand, so a big thank you to those guys,” said Rice.
This weekend will see two practice sessions and qualifying on Friday, two races on Saturday and two races to round out the weekend on Sunday.
Broadcast coverage for the Shannons SpeedSeries will be on 7plus from 10:00am to 4:30pm local time on Saturday and Sunday. Make sure to check your local guides.