Orrcon Racing Finishes Grand Prix on a High
7/3/2004 15:51 (Press Release) -
Continuing on his great form over the weekend Orrcon Racing’s Jason Bargwanna put in another great drive finishing fifth and the highest placed Ford driver in the final race of the Netscape V8 Supercar support event at the Foster’s Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne today.
Starting from fifth position Bargwanna made a great start to be in fourth position as the 31-car field entered the opening turn of the 10-lap race.
Behind Bargwanna an incident involving Mark Skaife and Simon Wills left Skaife stranded and brought about a safety car period to retrieve his stranded car.
When the race resumed on lap three Bargwanna remained in fourth while his Larkham Motor Sport teammate, Mark Winterbottom was 22nd.
Entering turn one on the restart Greg Murphy made an attempt to pass Bargwanna but the 31-year-old held his position in fourth.
As the duo continued to battle they made contact on the back section of the circuit costing them valuable time on the race leaders and also allowing the chasing pack to close the gap.
Over the ensuing laps Bargwanna was shadowed by Murphy but every attempt to pass by the latter was voided by strong braking by Bargwanna.
Continuing to show composure under pressure Bargwanna headed a six-car freight train in the battle for fourth.
Entering the main straight for the penultimate lap Bargwanna was relegated back to fifth by Murphy.
With his momentum halted by Murphy’s pass Bargwanna was forced to hold off a charge by Steven Johnson. When the pair made contact they lost ground on Murphy but they escaped without damage.
Bargwanna held on for fifth ahead of a fast finishing Marcos Ambrose.
“The weekend was all about testing and developing our Falcon’s for the Championship so to be the top Ford over the weekend is very pleasing,” said Bargwanna.
“I got a good start today and all throughout the race simply drove my own lines rather than be defensive.
“The Orrcon team worked hard all weekend to improve the car and we can now go to Adelaide in a couple of weeks time with some confidence.”
Benefiting from the changes made overnight to his Orrcon Racing Falcon Winterbottom ran as high as 16th before contact forced him off the circuit mid race.
The 22-year-old recovered to cross the line where he started in 21st.
“After yesterday’s race the Orrcon team made some changes on the car that fixed the brake problem allowing me to be able to drive the car harder,” said Winterbottom.
“Although there is still a bit to go on the set up we now have a good starting point for when we go to Adelaide for the Championship opener.”
Jason Bright won the race ahead of Steven Richards and Garth Tander.
The opening round V8 Supercar Championship will begin at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide on March 18.
Netscape V8 Supercar Race 2
1. Jason Bright
2. Steven Richards
3. Garth Tander
4. Greg Murphy
5. Jason Bargwanna
6. Marcos Ambrose
7. Steven Richards
8. Paul Weel
9. Steven Ellery
10. Russell Ingall
11. Craig Lowndes
12. Rick Kelly
13. Paul Morris
14. Jason Richards
15. Paul Dumbrell
21. Mark Winterbottom
Release Date: 7/03/2004
Orrcon Racing
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