Last time Eddie Abelnica visited the Winton Motor Raceway circuit, it was back in 2006 with the Biante Historic Touring Cars. The event proved to be a weekend of ups and downs with positive times in practice, a 23rd in qualifying, followed by a race one DNF, race two 4th, and finishing the weekend taking his Ford Mustang to a race three win in record time.

Today he returned to the Winton tarmac for another day of a racers life, as the tables again turned as the excitement of rolling an immaculately prepared 1974 Ford XB Coupe out of his brand new Melbourne's Cheapest Cars Racing trailer, became the disappointment of having his new beast towed back to the pits after completing just six laps.

Taking to the track ready to restore his harmony with the race car, Abelnica commenced his warm up laps as he began the first shake down of his 2011 Touring Car Masters entry. Feeling good and finding his peace in the drivers seat, there was no warning as he entered turn nine and felt the jolt as the tail shaft let go.

Abelnica and the Melbourne's Cheapest Cars Racing crew were disappointed at the drama of the first outing for the XB, and with the first round in Adelaide only five days away, the pressure is on to send Eddie to the Clipsal 500 Adelaide race ready. Despite the set-back, Abelnica explained…

"I’m really looking forward to being back racing, and to debut the XB at Adelaide will be a challenge, but its all looking relatively good.

“We had planned to have a full test run before, but only got in six laps before our mechanical drama so it’s a tight turnaround, but even my short time in the car today has cleared my mind of any concerns with the car, so yes, this has been a speed bump on the road but we’re very positive for Clipsal.

"I've raced in various categories before, faced many challenges and I know that this season will be one of the hardest yet with a full and well credentialed field. Having said that, the laps today have given me confidence in the big car and she's not only going to look great on the track, but also have the performance to match."

This bump in the road for Abelnica may well be another challenge after the vehicle build was completed in only 25 weeks - an incredibly short turnaround for such a complex classic - but as the Melbourne's Cheapest Cars Racing team continue to work this evening, and with the outstanding livery to be applied in the coming days, the XB Coupe will soon be on the road to the season opener in Adelaide and it'll be on.

 Next Melbourne's Cheapest Cars Racing event: Touring Car Masters (presented by Autobarn), Round 1 - Clipsal 500 Adelaide SA, 17-20 March