CP Newsletter November 2016

It’s a very nervous time for me as I’m unsure where 2017 will take me. I currently don’t have a drive so I’m working hard to seek opportunities and find the sponsorship to secure a seat for next year before they all dry up.

However, with the 2016 season drawing to an end, I look back on some special highlights including a Pole Position and several top ten race and qualifying results:

• Pole Position | QLD Raceway
• Qualifying 4th | Barbagallo Raceway
• Qualifying 8th | Barbagallo Raceway
• Race 8th | Barbagallo Raceway
• Qualifying 9th | QLD Raceway
• Race 8th | QLD Raceway
• Race 10th | Gold Coast

Progressing into the Championship Series was a big step up and I feel I have grown a lot as a driver this year as I strive for success. Gaining a Pole Position in my rookie season was a massive confidence booster, so I know I can run at the front and the consistency will come with experience. I’m more motivated than ever and I hope I can continue to push myself in the Championship Series to progress to my full potential.

Ice Break's continued support has been amazing, without them I wouldn't be where I am today and enjoy such a huge following of passionate fans both here and in New Zealand. 

Thank you to everyone who has supported me, I look forward to finishing the year on a high at the Coates Hire Sydney 500 next weekend.

Thank you, CP

CP Newsletter September & October 2016

It's been a huge 2 months, featuring Bathurst 1000, Bonnie & Clyde, the GC600, the Noosa Tri and the ITM Super Sprint!

The back end of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship ramped up from the Wilson Security Sandown 500, the first round of the Pirtek Enduro Cup. And it's been non stop, so I've wrapped the last two months into this one email...

The Pirtek Enduro Cup included three events:  The Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000 and Gold Coast 600. We had some highs including a strong qualifying result at Bathurst, where I set a 2.05.68m lap - just missing out on the top ten shoot out by .10s. We were in good shape during the race running comfortably in the top ten. Unfortunately, a miscalculation late in the race resulted in me being instructed to drive to a fuel number lower than necessary, which dropped us out of the top ten to finish in 12th place.

As you may be aware, I have been supporting young and upcoming drivers with coaching and mentoring, focusing on fitness training, driving skills, networking and personal development both in and out of the car. Most recently I've been working with Chelsea Angelo. It was great to see all our hard work come together for her to compete at Sandown and Bathurst in the Dunlop Supercar Series. The Rush Iced Coffee/Wilson Storage Falcon looked awesome.
Chelsea showed her potential and has begun to make her mark in this predominately male dominated sport. Thanks to everyone who jumped on board to make this possible. I hope Chelsea's success will lead to more opportunities for her to continue chasing her dream.

Next stop was the UCB Conference on the Gold Coast, which I really enjoy being involved with each year. It was a great catching up with everybody there and being a guest at the Ice Break go kart challenge, although, observing some of the driving I’m glad I wasn’t out on track...  After a fun night at the Heroes and Villains UCB Awards, it was time to get into race mode for the Castrol Gold Coast 600.

We had a decent run in with a top ten finish in Saturday’s 300km race. Heading into Sunday our aim was to improve on Saturday’s result. Unfortunately, this wasn’t to be.  I didn’t get the chance to get into the car on Sunday after my co-driver sustained damage from contact while attempting a pass, which put us out of the race.

From the Gold Coast, I travelled north to Noosa for my slowest race of the year; the Noosa Triathlon. This was my second year taking part in the team event, so we were proud to achieve our goal of improving our overall category result from last year. It’s a fun way to mix up my training program and push myself. I highly recommend this event to anyone who is interested in challenging themselves regardless of their fitness level.

Next it was back on the plane to New Zealand for the ITM Auckland SuperSprint. I was very excited to race in the Supercars championship on my home soil for the first time. Driving for Super Black Racing Powered by Ice Break, the only NZ owned team was a privilege and the support we received was amazing.

Six years had passed since I last raced at Pukekohe Park Raceway in the NZ V8 Ute Racing Series. The track had been altered along the back straight but it was still just as bumpy and exciting to drive!

On track the weekend didn’t bring the results we were striving for. All weekend we struggled to find a comfortable balance and get the car to ride the bumps well over the hill and through turn 1. We worked hard and made some improvements but didn’t unlock what we were chasing.

In the first race, I got a great start moving up 4 places. As you may have seen in the TV coverage, contact with Jason Bright left me with a drive through penalty for something I believe was a racing incident.

Our luck didn’t improve much on Sunday, despite qualifying slightly better than we had on Saturday. Contact from Cam Waters diving up the inside at the hairpin from two positions back resulted in being spun and re-joining at the back of the field.

We will evaluate the tough weekend, learn from it and come out fighting to end the season on a high at the Grand Finale for the Coates Hire Sydney 500.

Thank you to everyone for your passionate support and backing us through the highs and lows. I hope we can bring home the year with more results we can all be proud of.

CP

PS. Congrats on making it to the end of this supersized update... you deserve an Ice Break mate!

CP Newsletter August 2016

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It’s been a busy month having visited New Zealand, raced at Sydney Motorsport Park, preparing for Sandown, as well as working.

During my recent trip home, I took the opportunity to catch up with family and friends. Getting out on the quad bike riding through the hills of my cousin’s farm quickly reminded me how amazing the New Zealand countryside is. We moved cattle and sheep and I thought I was being helpful but really the dogs had it covered.

After a quick trip to the farm I headed back to my hometown of Palmerston North. I went back in time and visited my High School. It was great to catch up with some of my teachers and see the changes around the school.

I celebrated my friends 80’s themed 30th birthday. It was cool to catch up with lots of old friends and the 80’s costumes were awesome - including my mullet! I visited the Manawatu Kart Club where my passion for racing started. I really enjoyed chatting with all the young kids which brought back lots of great memories.

Once on the ground in Melbourne I headed straight to Phillip Island for a week working with the Audi Drive Experience team. I work with a great crew of guys and I’m fortunate to be able to manage this work around the racing calendar to generate an income, as I’m not a paid Supercar driver.

Next stop was Sydney for the Red Rooster Sydney SuperSprint. I visited our partners XForce Performance Exhaust Systems and Three Three’s Condiments to check out the Mighty Mite factory. It was an interesting experience looking around both factories to see and learn about how their products come to life as well as meeting people on floor.

On Thursday we walked the circuit to inspect the quality of the track surface. Going into practice we had the aim to find a balance that would look after the tyres over longer runs because of the poor surface. We were happy with the car balance in race trim, but couldn’t find a balance comfortable for me to attack and make the most of the new tyre grip.

This resulted in a 17th qualifying position. We went into the race with confidence that we would have good tyre life and speed over a race stint. I had a lot of fun attacking, planning and executing passes. We moved forward and finished a solid 14th.

Sunday was a similar story. Although it was only one position, we did improve by qualifying 16th.  After a confusing start ultimately being aborted, we got into a groove and went long to maximise our strength of good tyre life. We raced forward to finish behind a road block of Nissan's in a pleasing 13th place, knocking on the door of a top ten.

Overall, it was great to have strong race pace and consistency especially heading into the enduro rounds. I had a lot of fun throughout the two races making lots of passes. Now we need to learn how to combine our qualifying car from QLD Raceway and our race car from SMSP and we will be in good shape.

Back on track Monday to welcome our guests for our ride and driver experience. I always enjoy taking guests in the Supercar to give them an adrenalin thrill and I love seeing their smiles.

It was a great day and, as well as the hotlap, our guests participated in a team building exercise including a timed Motokahna on the skid pan in our V8 Utes.

I’m looking forward to the Sandown 500. I feel preparations have gone well with my co-driver Richie Stanaway and we are in good shape, so we will be aiming high.

Thank you for your support,

CP