Sports Sedan driver to carry 2007 FPR Cobra colours on ex-Winterbottom Ford
QUEENSLANDER Jason Heck is the newest competitor to join the grid for the 2015 Kumho Tyre Australian V8 Touring Car Series.
The Sports Sedan driver has secured an ex-Ford Performance Racing Falcon BF from Matthew White having previously raced an ex-Briggs Motorsport Falcon V8 Supercar in state-based Sports Sedan competition.
His newly acquired, ex-FPR machine won the 2006 Sandown 500 in the hands of Jason Bright and Mark Winterbottom and the 2009 V8 Development Series crown with Jonathon Webb.
It will appear in the #5 Cobra retro livery as run by Mark Winterbottom for FPR late in the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship in which he won that year’s Bahrain round.
Former V8 Supercars Championship-winning engineer Paul Forgie, who worked with Marcos Ambrose during his victorious 2003 and 2004 seasons, will engineer the Kumho Series rookie.
“Stepping into the Kumho Series was always on our radar, though the AU Falcon we had was changed into a BF and we couldn’t run it in the series unless we returned it to AU spec,” says 37-year-old Heck.
“We picked up the new car last weekend and it’s now being stripped and getting re-wrapped in the Cobra livery, which no doubt will get plenty of attention.
“Having Paul there to run it is great. He’s the brains of our operation and a massive help. He’s been helping me the last two years with state racing stuff and he’s improved my driving enormously.”
Heck will make his V8 Touring Car debut in the opening round of the Kumho Series at Sandown in Melbourne on March 27-29 and will compete in the full series.
The Sandown round is the first of five in 2015 with events at Winton, Queensland Raceway, Phillip Island and Sydney Motorsport Park to follow.
The Kumho Series is made up of ex-V8 Supercars no longer eligible for the V8 Supercar Development Series.
