White Eyes Championship After First Round Podium
23/2/2004 0:54 (Press Release) -
A gutsy and determined effort by Melbourne based V8 Supercar driver, Matthew White has seen him pilot his Gulf Western Oil/Jayco Falcon to an impressive third position in the opening round of the 2004 Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Championship, at Wakefield Park in Goulburn.
In stark contrast to yesterday’s blistering heat, all of today’s three races were affected by rain. White showing his class in equally challenging conditions to take two second positions, in race one and three, and was unlucky to be relegated to 15th in race two.
“It’s a solid start to the season for the Gulf Western/Jayco team. We proved in all of the races that we have a good car package. We got caught up in traffic in the reverse grid race [two] and decided not to take too many risks,” White said.
“It ended up being the right strategy. There were a few drivers that had their days ruined by taking too many chances. I said last week that to win the championship, it’s a matter of finishing every race,” he added.
White now feels he stands a real chance of taking the 2004 title – “Due to unforeseen circumstances, we came to Wakefield [Park] without an engineer in the team. We knew that if we could get through this round in a reasonable position then it would put us in a good position for the championship.”
“With our worst round out of the way and still managing to be in third in the standings, we will be going all out for our sponsors Gulf Western Oil and Jayco to win [the title],” White said further.
For Dean Wanless in the second of the Matthew White Motorsport V8 Supercars, it was a baptism of fire for the rookie but has come through the tough event with a number of positives.
“Dean’s 13th place in the last race proves how much he has learnt from his first ever V8 Supercar round. He is showing more and more confidence in his Wastecorp Commodore and it wont be long before we start to see him inside the top ten,” said team boss, White.
With just three weeks until the next Konica Minolta V8 Supercar round, when they provide a support act to the main V8 Supercar series, MWM’s newly structured engineering team will continue to make improvements to both cars with an eye on the ultimate prize of a championship title.
Release Date: 22/02/2004
Matthew White Racing
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