Booth and Davies strike bad luck again despite pace

Woodstock Racing

Media release
Re: Review, Round 6 of 2013 BNT V8 SuperTourers, Hampton Downs, 19-20 October 2013
22 October 2013

Booth and Davies strike bad luck again despite pace

Andy Booth and Shae Davies, Woodstock Racing’s driver pairing, refuse to stop believing in their ability to deliver a top-class performance despite succumbing to another competitor’s error and mechanical failures in the second endurance event of the 2013 BNT V8 SuperTourer season at Hampton Downs.

Booth and Davies, from Birkenhead, Auckland and Gold Coast, Queensland respectively, were feeling confident of running in the top ten, having each set the ninth-quickest time in the driver and co-driver qualifying sessions. So the Woodstock Racing Commodore had sufficient speed, but the team’s hopes were dashed due to a spin during Saturday’s 38-lap race and a failed differential in both 56-lap races on Sunday.

Booth says: “It was a tough weekend. We came into this round with pretty high hopes after having good pace at the previous round but it came down to plain bad luck for us again. Shae [Davies] started race one but another car took a silly dive down the inside of turn four, which spun Shae around. The incident was a carbon copy of what happened at the last round but luckily we got away without extensive damage to the car this time.

“Having dropped to near the back, we were able to continue so I jumped in for the second stint and managed to move forward and finished in 10th, which was an encouraging result. It showed our Woodstock Racing Commodore has good pace in the races.”

The Woodstock Racing crew then shifted their focus to Sunday’s two 56-lap races where they aimed for a top finish but were undone by two separate differential failures during each race. Booth got behind the wheel to start race two ninth on the grid and improved a couple of positions before a tactical error with the driver change due to a safety car.

“There was some confusion with the safety car so I got stuck behind it for a lap while everyone else was able to use it to change drivers,” says Booth. “Then Shae jumped in and made up a few places during the driver changes, doing an absolutely fantastic job carving through the field to get up to sixth place before the car stopped with a blown diff three laps from the finish. It was heart-breaking for everyone in the team, but especially for Shae. He had worked so hard for so many laps and was within sight of the finish.”

Booth and his Woodstock Racing mechanics then got to work and replaced the differential head which they borrowed from another V8SuperTourer team for the weekend’s final race.

“Starting back in 16th, I was struggling for grip and lost quite a bit of time,” Booth recalls. “When I came in for the driver change, the team noticed a huge amount of oil on the ground and told Shae to stop before he’d even left the pits. We later discovered that the pinion seal on the diff had fallen out because it didn’t have an additional retainer, which we’d normally have to stop that from happening.

“Overall, it’s been a very disappointing weekend for the whole crew. We’ve known all year that we’ve got good pace in the car and we’ve got one round left to do something with it and hopefully finish like we did in Taupo [with a win].

“And out of all the disappointment, Shae has been doing a fantastic job in his first season here in New Zealand. He’s been on the pace straight away and the entire team is really enjoying having him here.”

Davies was as gutted as the rest of the Woodstock Racing team. “A very tough weekend for Andy, Woodstock crew and me despite a huge effort from all involved all weekend. Yet again we showed some great pace, especially in the second race and to have the differential fail just three laps from completion was heart-breaking for all the crew,” says the 23-year-old who won his first race in the ultra-competitive Australian Porsche Carrera Cup Championship earlier this year.

Booth says he is optimistic about the final round of the endurance series set to be held next month, as he says the Woodstock Racing team have a winning formula, and while Davies will compete at Pukekohe for the first in his racing career, Pukekohe is Booth’s favourite track where he has plenty of experience which he can pass onto the young driver.

Booth comments: “I love Pukekohe and I’ll be giving Shae as many driver notes as I can to help him get familiar with the track. We’re all looking forward to the longer races at Pukekohe and it should be an amazing event with the calibre of drivers lining up for the final round of this season.”

Davies adds: “I’m greatly looking forward to the final round at in a few weeks’ time and I feel confident the stars can align for us to have the weekend we deserve!”

The final of the BNT V8SuperTourer series, and the third of three endurance rounds, will be held at Pukekohe Park Raceway over the weekend of 29 November and 1 December.

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ENDS

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