NASCAR Cup Series star Austin Cindric is heading down under to take on a new racing series this weekend.
The Team Penske star is set to take part in the Supercars Grand Final in Adelaide, entering the event as a wildcard with Tickford Racing and driving the No. 5 car.
The American driver finished 23rd out of 25 cars in his first practice session of the event, finishing a respectable 1.1361 seconds behind the leader and teammate, Cam Waters.
Speaking to Speedcafe after the session, Cindric admitted that he wasn't unhappy with his effort, but knew exactly where he had left a chunk of lap time on the table.
“I left two and a half tenths at Turn 8, just trying to be a hero, so I did that early in the weekend," Cindric explained.
“We won’t talk about that.”
Cindric talks intimidating turn eight
Adelaide Parklands circuit's turn eight is a notoriously difficult corner, a high-speed right-hand sweeper that cars can enter at over 200 km/h.
In that sense, a driver is either hero or zero after taking on turn eight, with high-speed driving and bold commitment rewarded if you get it right, but the smallest of errors being punished - sometimes with wrecking consequences given the lack of runoff.
Five-time Supercars champion Mark Skaife has previously described the corner as the 'wildest corner in Australian motorsport', whilst the Supercars official YouTube channel recently put out a video questioning whether or not it was the 'most dangerous corner in motorsport'.
Cindric, too, admits he finds it intimidating: "I only find it intimidating because everyone doesn’t shut up about it. But, past that, it’s a sketchy corner.
“I think the thing that actually makes it so inviting is that you’re pretty low in the RPM exiting, you kind of have the wrong gear for that corner.
“So, it really invites you to get back to the gas, because you don’t have the revs, but it can upset the balance of the car some.
“Being line sensitive through there, I can definitely be a little more disciplined with right-side placement getting closer to that kerb, because I’m sure that’ll get dirtier and dirtier.
“I’d say, I need to remember I’m in a right-hand drive, especially through a corner like that, where you really have to be disciplined on your line. So I can see I can easily go wrong.”
