Strong Finish to the Season for Walter

For Tasmania’s Sam Walter the final round of the Dunlop V8 Supercar Championship netted a solid finish in his return to the series after a three year hiatus, the Holden Commodore pilot recording two finishes inside the top half of the field, an outstanding result considering he had a failure during qualifying and was forced to start at the rear of the 30 car field.

“What a tough weekend to end the season,” he admitted post-event. “We had a pretty mixed year in the end with a few dramas which put us back in the pack, so to charge through the field in race one and come away with such a good result and a straight car was testament to the team and the speed of the car.

“It started okay in P1, but as practice two went on I could hear and feel a vibration which felt very much like I’d lost a cylinder in the engine.

“I ended the session early and came in for the boys to have a look, but apart from changing a plug lead, they couldn’t find anything wrong with the engine, so I went out for qualifying but it was clear as soon as I grabbed second gear that the problem was still there.

“It turned out to be a balance weight on the driveshaft so it was out of balance and sent a shocking vibration through the car. Fortunately it was an easy fix, unfortunately, I hadn’t recorded a lap time so I would have to start race one from rear of field.

“It was actually quite enjoyable working my way through the field, although hectic at times. I was a bit aggressive off the start and picked up about seven positions on the first lap, after that things settled down and I’d take one or two a lap and before I knew it, it was race over and I was 15th.

“Race two was a different scenario, it was pretty precessional in the end, especially with the two Safety Car periods, there wasn’t much time or space to make much of a move forward, so 14th was the best we could do in the end, but all up it was a good way to end the season.

“Now it’s on to our ride day at Baskerville in Hobart on December 21-22 where we’re expecting to take almost 150 fans for laps around the circuit. It’s going to be an amazing couple of days, and in fact we had so many bookings, we’re bringing two Supercars, so the place will be resounding to the sound of two big Holden V8s.

“Overall 2013 has been a mixed year. We’ve had some great results, and we’ve had some shockers, but overall, by Homebush we had speed and consistency. I have to say a big thank you to Minda Motorsport for running the car for us, and to our fantastic sponsors without whose support I wouldn’t have been able to run this year.

“2014 is up in the air at present as we have some big commitments with Andrew Walter Constructions, so we’ll be very busy, but I’ll spend some time in the off season talking to our sponsors to see what we can put together, because I’m certainly not finished with Supercars, at least not yet!

“If we don’t see you at Baskerville, have a safe and happy Christmas, and a Happy New year to all our friends, fan and supporters.”

For more information on the Baskerville Ride Day, visit Walter’s Facebook page. There are still some vacancies for the second day, December 22.