Top-Ten Results Fof Team Fujitsu
21/2/2004 19:34 (Press Release) -
The 2004 V8 Konica Minolta series has started on a strong note for Dick Johnson's Team Fujitsu at Wakefield Park (NSW) this afternoon, with both drivers qualifying for tomorrow's races in the top-ten.
Team Fujitsu's Owen Kelly and Jose Fernandez qualified in fifth and seventh place respectively.
For Owen Kelly the disappointment was obvious after holding his place in the top-three for most of the day.
"To be in the top-three for the morning practice sessions and a lot of qualifying and to then ultimately finish fifth is a little disappointing," Owen Kelly said.
"But that's that, we start on the third row of the grid and I've got some work to do.
"Having said that Wakefield Park has a couple of really good places to pass on so I'm confident that I can finish higher than I started."
Kelly is very happy with the Ford Falcon and admits that he is looking forward to tomorrow's three sprint races.
"The Ford is going really well, I'm very pleased with it,' Kelly said.
"I just wasn't able to put it together today, but I know that when I do we'll be even more competitive than we were today.
"I'll be pushing hard to win the round but 2004 is not about just this weekend, I'm challenging for the championship so the aim is to finish every race and be consistent."
Kelly's teammate Jose Fernandez was extremely happy to qualify in seventh place but is more excited about the progress made today.
"I was aiming at the top-ten today so to be there is really pleasing, I'm happy to have done this for everyone," Jose Fernandez said.
"But I am most happy about my progress today, I improved my times significantly from session to session.
"I improved my times by a second between first and second practice, and then by a further second on new tyres in qualifying.
"For the first time I am working with telemetry, race data and a team that can explain what I am and what I am not doing right, so I have learnt a lot today.
"I'm proud to have put the theory into practice on the track, I am very excited about this weekend."
Earlier in the day Kelly spent the first two practice sessions dueling it out with Andrew Jones and Alan Gurr at the top of the order.
Kelly finished the first practice session in second place, a tenth of a second behind Jones, and leap frogged both opponents in the dying seconds of the second practice to take fastest lap time.
"The Ford was handling pretty well but even though I was second in the day's first session I only gave myself a six out of ten.
"The Falcon was suffering a lot of under-steer which we managed to correct a bit making it easier to drive.
"Come the second session the team had made some changes to the rear set-up so that we had more grip, I went out with three-minutes remaining in the session and really pushed for a good time.
"My first flying lap was a sixty-one flat, then I followed that up with a sixty point seven and a sixty point five.
"I was pretty pleased to snatch the fastest time, is showed that we were going in the right direction."
The first Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Series round of the season continues tomorrow climaxing with three races.
Release Date: 21/02/2004
Team Fujitsu
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