Vettel tops timesheets again in FP2

By Mar 15, 2013, 3:24 AM EDT
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Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel has continued his good pace from Free Practice 1 after finishing quickest in the second Friday session in Australia.

The Red Bull driver finished over two-tenths clear of teammate Mark Webber, with the team having made a big step forward since the final test in Barcelona.

Nico Rosberg finished third for Mercedes, with his teammate Lewis Hamilton down in seventh place despite both drivers encountering problems late in the session. The Silver Arrows will be pleased with their progress, although they have failed to repeat their testing pace so far. The Lotus pairing of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean finished fourth and fifth respectively ahead of Fernando Alonso in sixth, and Felipe Massa struggled to match his FP1 success down in seventh.

Many of the drivers struggled with the new Pirelli tires, with their super-soft rubber prvoing particularly difficult to work with late in the session. Hamilton and Caterham rookie Giedo van der Garde both beached their cars in the gravel, and Mark Webber spun his RB9 late on as he pushed to beat his teammate.

Once again, it seems that Red Bull, Ferrari, Lotus and Mercedes are closely matched with less than one second separating the top eight. McLaren appear to have work to do, finishing in 11th and 13th, whilst Jules Bianchi and Marussia will be happy to not only have beaten Caterham but also finish just three-tenths off Williams’ Valtteri Bottas.

Free Practice 2 – Classification

1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:25.908 33 laps

2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:26.172 +0.264 31 laps

3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:26.322 +0.414 26 laps

4 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1:26.361 +0.453 38 laps

5 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:26.680 +0.772 32 laps

6 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:26.748 +0.840 35 laps

7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:26.772 +0.864 28 laps

8 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:26.855 +0.947 32 laps

9 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:27.435 +1.527 35 laps

10 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1:28.187 +2.279 34 laps

11 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.294 +2.386 30 laps

12 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:28.311 +2.403 37 laps

13 Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.566 +2.658 33 laps

14 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 1:28.627 +2.719 31 laps

15 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1:28.772 +2.864 33 laps

16 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:28.852 +2.944 36 laps

17 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 1:28.968 +3.060 36 laps

18 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1:29.386 +3.478 39 laps

19 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1:29.696 +3.788 32 laps

20 Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1:30.165 +4.257 37 laps

21 Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1:30.600 +4.692 36 laps

22 Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1:32.450 +6.542 11 laps

Ford Mustang GT3 test has Austin Cindric dreaming of Daytona: ‘I want to drive that car’

By Mar 22, 2023, 2:30 PM EDT
Cindric Ford GT3 test
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
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Austin Cindric wasn’t the “mystery” test driver behind the wheel of the new Ford Mustang GT3 at Sebring International Raceway, but the Team Penske driver desperately wanted to be.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, an amateur sports car driver himself, made the big reveal via a Tuesday tweet that provided the first video evidence of the GT3 Mustang on track.

“I’ve watched the video in question about a million times,” Cindric said Wednesday during a Ford Performance Zoom news conference to promote NASCAR’s first road course weekend of the season at Circuit of the Americas. “Definitely exciting times for sure. I want to drive that car. It suits my experience level and also the relationships that I have.”

Ford will enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next season with its GT3 Mustang, entering a two-car factory effort (that will be managed by Multimatic) in GTD Pro and making customer cars available in the GT Daytona category.

That increases the likelihood of seeing more NASCAR drivers crossing over to IMSA. Cindric has been the only full-time Cup driver in the Rolex 24 at Daytona the past two years, but Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook has said the GT3 Mustang will provide more opportunities.

Ford has used its GT4 Mustang as a NASCAR driver development tool in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Harrison Burton and Zane Smith combining to win the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in January.

“We’re excited about the Next Gen car and the new architecture there and the similarities between that car and GT3 and even GT4 cars,” Rushbrook said at the announcement of the Ford GT3 program in January 2022 at Daytona. “We think it’s a great opportunity and to do be able to do that in a 24-hour race and get NASCAR drivers even more time is something we need to consider taking advantage of that opportunity.”

Given his sports car background, Cindric probably still would be in the Rolex 24 regardless. He has eight IMSA starts since the 2017 season opener at Daytona, racing a Lexus RCF GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT category. The 2022 Daytona 500 winner made his second LMP2 start this year with Rick Ware Racing.

But Cindric’s preference naturally would be in a Ford, particularly with sports car racing enjoying convergence and crossovers in both GT and prototype racing.

“It’s an exciting time in GT racing, just as it is now for prototype racing with a lot of new regulations and manufacturers building new GT3 cars,” he said. “And also the opportunity with WEC (the World Endurance Championship) and Le Mans and how that all lines up for that category of car. It’s definitely an exciting time. I want to be as much of a part of that as possible.”

Though those odds seemingly will increase with multiple Ford entries in the Rolex 24 field next year, Cindric said NASCAR drivers still have to put in the networking to land rides as he has in recent years.

“Now how (the GT3 Mustang) relates to specifically NASCAR drivers and how often they want to be in the Rolex, could it be an influence? Absolutely, as far as the tie-in with the manufacturer,” Cindric said. “But the challenge and the drive and the logistics of getting an opportunity for a race like the Rolex 24 will be just as challenging as it always is to find your one-off ride for the race. At least from my experience, that’s what I still anticipate.”

It turned out the “mystery” test driver wasn’t from NASCAR (Farley revealed the driver to be 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Joey Hand after a fan asked whether it was Joey Logano).

But Cindric believes there could be more Cup drivers — and perhaps himself — behind the wheel of Mustang GT3s in the future.

“There’s definitely more of a pathway than I think there would be before as far as Ford drivers are concerned,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the opportunity to drive that thing. It’s obviously a great looking car. That’s the first box you’ve got to check. And it’s cool (to have) a guy like Jim Farley, no doubt he’s a racer just as much as he is steering the ship for Ford. It’s cool to see he’s just as excited as the rest of us about it.”