Jim Beam Racing’s Steve Johnson has finished the Phillip Island 300 with a similar result in today’s 200km race than he achieved in Saturday’s shorter first race. Qualifying delivered a slightly better result with a P14 starting position and Steve reported that the car was handling well on the fast Phillip Island layout.

 

At the Green Light, Johnson was away well, but by Turn 4 he was battling with Greg Murphy in almost a straight repeat of Saturday’s incident with the Kiwi driver. Murphy got into Steve and sent the #17 DJR Falcon off the track seeing Johnson tumble 10 spots on the first lap. An early Safety Car added to Johnson’s woes as he had to measure his speed into the pits as the bulk of the field headed to the lane. With some teams backing up Johnson wanted to avoid the additional time in the pits.

The pit lane was frenzied with Coulthard hitting Reindler and cars trying to feed back and not lose position.

 

Johnson rejoined in 25th and set about trying to regain some positions.  But the race became a series of short sprints in between Safety Car periods for crashes and debris on the track. At each restart, Johnson was pushing hard but the earlier knock from Murphy had again done some front end damage to the Jim Beam ‘Honey’ Falcon.

 

“The car was better today but after the 1st lap hit with Murphy the steering wheel was at about 11.00 o’clock and once again we had sustained front end damage. Fair dinkum, I thought it was Ground Hog Day – same comer, same driver hitting me and same result!” a frustrated Johnson said. “It was very hard to pass anyone after that although we did end up moving up the order a bit. I am hoping we can get some luck on our side in Darwin” Johnson added.

 

Steve finally crossed the line in 17th place in today’s 200km final leg of the Phillip Island 300.

Race 10 of the 2012 V8 Supercars Championship has proved to be a tough affair for Jim Beam Racing’s Steve Johnson. Accidents and Safety Cars were plentiful in the 140km race. The day started with a final practice and then the all important qualifying session. Run over a short, sharp 20 minutes the teams plan a strategy to ensure their driver makes the final run the best. Johnson was sitting down the order but put in a 1:33.06 to move up to 15th starting position. This was well over a second quicker than his qualifying time at Phillip Island in September last year but not quite good enough for a Top 10 start.

 

The race started in cloudy and cool conditions. Johnson started well and after a frantic first lap jumped into 14th place as the Safety Car was deployed. The GRM Commodore of Frenchman Premat was the reason for the Safety Car after an accident at the Hay Shed corner.

Racing resumed on Lap 6 with Johnson locked in a battle group with Webb, Coulthard & Murphy. At one stage Murphy and Coulthard had Johnson sandwiched and Steve reported some front end damage back to his pit. This immediately had an effect on his lap times and would compromise Johnson’s race later on. Johnson pitted on Lap 14 but the slightly later strategy did not pay dividends as those who stopped before him made track position.

 

Johnson was buried back in the pack when a second Safety Car was called to move the Phillip Island ‘geese’ from the track.  A further safety Car for an accident between Whincup & Davison saw Johnson grab a very late pit stop. The team decided to put new tyres on with a view to moving up the field. The strategy did not quite work as Johnson had to run his out lap at race speed to try and catch the cars behind the Safety Car but missed the train by about 100 metres. From there Johnson ran to the finish moving up three spots to 19th place.      

 

“The car was reasonable at the beginning but I got sandwiched after the first Safety Car coming out of Turn 4 with Coulthard & Murphy. I was in the middle and got nailed.” Steve said “It stuffed the alignment and it just turned it into massive oversteer for the rest of the race. Not want you want around this place!” Johnson added.

 

“We tried to compensate at the stop by going right down in the roll centre but it didn’t make any difference at all. We pitted at the last Safety Car for new tyres but didn’t bridge the gap to the Safety Car”

 

Race 11 over 200kms takes place on Sunday at the Phillip Island 300.  

Jim Beam Racing’s Steve Johnson has put in a strong first day’s practice for the Phillip Island 300 with a 7th position in the final practice session. Running two 20 minute sessions, the #17 DJR Falcon crew worked through a number of set up changes with Steve. The rewards were there as in the dying moments Johnson set his best time of the day only 6/10ths of a second behind David Reynolds FPR run Falcon.

 

With the combining of all session times, Johnson was credited with 11th overall although 7 of the cars in front of him had set the time in the earlier practice session.

 

“Phillip Island has not been the happiest place in recent years for me or the DJR Team. A solid run today with my car plus having Dean (Fiore) in the other Jim Beam Falcon right behind me is a good start.” Steve said. “We were a bit lucky with the last Red Flag as I was the first car back on track but the car is responding to the changes we are making.” Johnson added.

 

 

Saturday sees another practice session, qualifying and the first race over 140kms. Steve Johnson currently sits in 13th place in the 2012 V8 Supercars Championship.

Jim Beam Racing’s Steve Johnson has bounced back with a great drive to record a Top 10 finish in the final race at Perth’s Barbagallo Raceway today. Qualifying for both races today left the #17 DJR Falcon in tough starting positions as the team decided to conserve tyres and ensure Steve had brand new Dunlop hard & soft tyres for the final 50 lap race.

In the morning race Johnson had a long battle with Todd Kelly in the early laps but could not make much progress up the field. Pitting on Lap 24 for soft tyres Steve had good late race pace and improved his position passing Todd Kelly and Jono Webb to grab a top 20 result.

The final race saw Steve start well and he dived down the inside of a big group into Turn 1 to finish the lap 4 places up on his starting position. The race turned to his advantage with a Safety Car and Pit Stop timing perfectly for his pit stop. With cars behind a slow Safety car, Steve grabbed track position and resumed in 12th place. The challenge now was to get 35 laps out of the Dunlop Sprint Tyre and Steve set about moving into the Top 10.

A great move on Rick Kelly consolidated 9th place but a fast closing Tim Slade dropped Johnson back to 10th when the chequered flag fell.

“We did not have the best qualifying today. Starting back there made it hard but we did improve the car with its tyre life which was really good for us in the latter part of the final race.” Steve said “I could see Robbo up the road but I just couldn’t get him in the end. But everyone who was behind me at the restart burnt up their tyres and I could hold our speed. It was a change to have the Safety Car and our Pit Strategy work in our favour. To finish in the top 10 was a good day for the Jim Beam team” Johnson concluded.