Declan Fraser returned to Queensland Raceway this week with one goal in mind: answers.
After a difficult Townsville 500 where tyre management issues hampered the #777 Camaro’s race pace, Fraser used the team’s dedicated test day at QR to get back to basics, log valuable laps, and sharpen his feel ahead of the Perth Super440.
And the Queenslander left the Ipswich circuit in a confident mood.
“I think the more laps you can do, the happier you’re going to be,” Fraser said. “This day was obviously very beneficial to be able to do it so close to a round; it works out pretty well. Just to keep the consistency of being in the car every time I’ve gone out, I’ve learned something new, and I’ve implemented it in the next round.”
Fraser is philosophical about Townsville, pointing to one clear area of focus rather than an overall performance issue. “At the end of the day, it’s qualifying,” he said. “If we can qualify up there, I feel like my race pace is strong.”
He’s adamant that Townsville’s tyre degradation struggles were out of character. “Townsville is an outlier,” he said. “Darwin, we always came home strong, and we’ve always extended our stints because of how good our race pace and deg’s been. We’ll analyse Townsville, but not let it get to our heads and just go out in Perth and do our thing.”
Perth holds genuine promise. Wanneroo Raceway is tight on qualifying opportunities, which Fraser believes levels the field, and he’s excited about what he can show there.
“I love Perth. It’s going to be very close in qualifying because there aren’t many turns, so there’s not a lot of deviation there, and we’re already so close. I think we should make sure we qualify well and then just manage the deg. I feel all year I’ve done a really good job with the deg in the races.”
“I’ve just got to get that last little bit of the puzzle, and it’ll be fine.”
Fuelled by Ambition.