Declan Fraser isn’t getting carried away, but after a promising opening day at the Perth Super 400, the PremiAir Racing rookie has every reason to feel encouraged.
Fraser was second-fastest in Practice 1 on Friday, bested only by his own teammate Jayden Ojeda. He backed it up with sixth place in Practice 2, the fastest non-Ford driver from the 25-minute session as the momentum from a recent test day at Queensland Raceway began to translate onto the track.
“I’m not hanging my hat on anything this early in the weekend, but it’s a step in the direction we want to go,” Fraser said.
The key to the 25-year-old’s improved confidence has been the rookie test held at Ipswich in the week following the Townsville 500, a day that gave Fraser and his engineer Simon Hodge the time and space to work through things at their own pace.
“We were able to think about things a lot slower,” Fraser explained. “Whereas not having the testing throughout the year and then you get to a round and it’s like bang, bang, bang, you’re trying to learn as much as possible in a very short period of time.
“Being able to slow everything down and talk to Hodgey really helped, and then coming here I was able to tell him ‘no I don’t want that, I want this.’ Just having that communication, we learnt a lot, and I feel like it’s helped a lot.”
Speculation about Fraser’s future has swirled in recent weeks, including unfounded reports of a possible mid-season change firmly dismissed by team principal Roland Dane. For Fraser, the noise is simply something to tune out.
“I can only control what I can control,” he said. “I go out there every time, and I try my best. I feel like I just needed to learn a little bit more about these cars, and I feel like we did that at the test day.
“I don’t go into a round thinking about my contract or my future or anything like that. Obviously it’s a part of our sport, and everyone else is going to talk about it, but I can only control what I can control, so I go out there and do the best job that I can, and hopefully it’s good enough.
“Yesterday I feel like it was, but it’s just a step; it’s nothing to hang our hat on just yet.”
Qualifying for Rounds 23 and 24 gets underway (Today) on Saturday morning.
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