ZUKANOVIC PRIMED AND READY FOR 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Opes Prime Racing’s Marcus Zukanovic is fully ‘primed’ for this year’s Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series and can’t wait until Thursday’s opening practice session in Adelaide.
It’s already been an outstanding season for the boy from Melbourne’s West, who it was announced just two weeks ago, would join the dual-Championship winning HSV Dealer Team for the 2008 endurance events.
Turning his first laps of the year at an HSV drive-day at Winton in early February behind the wheel of Garth Tander’s 2007 championship winning VE Commodore, Zukanovic couldn’t wipe the smile from his face.. “It’s a dream come true. I had to remind myself walking into the HSVDT transporter with my helmet and kit bag that I was doing so as one of the team’s 2008 drivers, it was surreal,” Zukanovic said.
During the team’s official release of Paul Dumbrell’s new Autobarn backed HSVDT entry, it was revealed that Zukanovic would join Dumbrell, Paul Radisich and 2006 champion Rick Kelly as part of the HSVDT’s assault on the 2008 endurance races later in the season, with Zukanovic slated to drive alongside Dumbrell in the #16 car.
“I’m really looking forward to working with Marcus,” Dumbrell confirmed. “He’s got great experience in the HSVDT cars, having campaigned Garth’s (Tander) 2006 championship series car last year, and has shown great speed in the Fujitsu Series events, I think he’ll make a great addition to the team.”
For Zukanovic though the focus is purely on the forthcoming Fujitsu Series opener in Adelaide (Clipsal 500) where he’s looking to make an early impression on the championship.
“We had a slow start to 2007 and that cost us in the championship, so we’re looking for a strong start to this season. All the ingredients are there; the car is better prepared than we’ve ever had it thanks in part to our new crew (Mat Corderoy, Mark Beveridge and Kim McCormick), I’m fitter than I’ve ever been and we’ve got the best sponsor in motorsport, so I can’t wait to get trackside..”
The Opes Prime supported team turned in some encouraging times during the opening Supercar test of the season at Winton Raceway, only adding to Marcus’ anticipation for the opening round. “We were on a pre-planned schedule. We did some very strong times on old tyres and importantly didn’t use our new green rubber.”
While Zukanovic was working to a program, it was interesting to see some of the other Fujitsu teams putting ‘main game’ drivers in to sort their cars and record a respective time, and others who didn’t bother to use transponders. The games were well and truly underway..
“For our part, we know where we’re at, we know what we need to do and we know we’ll be competitive.. Bring it on..”
Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series Clipsal 500 (Adelaide) schedule
Thursday, February 21
9.45am Practice 1 (30 minutes)
2:10pm Practice 2 (30 minutes)
Friday, February 22
1:00pm Qualifying (lower 50%/upper 50%, 20 minutes each)
6:30pm Race 1 (24-laps)
Saturday, February 22
9:50am Race 2 (24-laps)
Opes Prime specialise in providing securities lending and equity financing, corporate advice and finance, trade execution, and asset management services to sophisticated market players, including other stockbrokers, banks, advisers, fund managers, corporations and individuals. Opes Prime has offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Singapore.
For further information or images, please call Opes Prime Racing’s media manager Sean Henshelwood on 0419 143 267
or email: racing@opesprime.com / media@marcuszukanovic.com