February 13, 2020
'Team pole position' a promising pointer for Daniel's Bathurst debut
Daniel hurls the Rondo Building Supplies BMW 335i down through Mount Panorama's infamous 'Dipper' en route to setting the team's fastest qualifying lap. Photo: Ryan Schembri (courtesy of OzRacingWrap.com.au)
Once again, Daniel Erickson has demonstrated his uncanny ability to adapt to unfamiliar cars and racetracks during qualifying for tomorrow's Bathurst 12-Hour race.
In his production touring car racing debut and his first competitive appearance on the legendary 6.3km Mount Panorama circuit, the young Sydney driver drove the Rondo Building Services BMW 335i to a best lap time of 2min. 33.9sec. - faster than the car's owner Barry Morcom and veteran production car racer Paul Stubber during the hour-long session.
Daniel's time was good enough for 11th position on the 42-car starting grid for the race. More importantly in the multi-class event, he qualified the car second fastest in Class B, for high-performance two-wheel-drive cars, behind V8 Supercar ace John Bowe in an identical BMW 335i.
Although happy to have scored an unofficial 'team pole position' over his more experienced co-drivers, Daniel was disappointed that slower cars thwarted no fewer than three attempts to improve his lap time. But that was always going to be a problem for the outright contenders after race organisers combined the scheduled two half-hour qualifying sessions for the faster and slower halves of the field when imminent rain threatened to produce a discrepancy between the sessions.
"I definitely would have gone faster if my last three laps hadn't been spoiled by traffic," Daniel said. "Fortunately grid positions don't count for much in long-distance racing, so there's no reason why I can't reduce my lap times even further with more time in the car tomorrow."
Having eclipsed their more powerful V8 HSV Commodore and FPV Falcon Class B rivals during the hour-long session, the two BMW teams have set their sights on high outright results in the race. Despite being unable to match the faster all-wheel-drive high-performance Class A Mitsubishi Evos in qualifying, they're counting on their cars' reliability and ability to race closer to qualifying pace to move up the leader board as the marathon grinds on.
Forecast continued rain is likely to make the 12-Hour an even bigger challenge, but the BMW 335i shouldn't be dismissed as an outright contender if the track turns slippery despite the Class A cars' inherent traction advantage. The German thoroughbred has excellent driveability due to its large capacity engine and dual turbochargers that smooth out the transition from low to high-boost.
"The car is quite easy to drive quickly because the engine pulls strongly from low revs, unlike the sudden rush of power that you get in an Evo," Daniel said. "Our BMW's bigger fuel tank - 63 litres to the Evo's 55 - also gives us a more flexible refuelling strategy."
Mount Panorama Timetable
Sunday, February 14
6.30am-6.30pm - Race
The race will be streamed 'live' online via the official website, www.bathurst12hour.com.au.
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