ORRCON RACING SHOW SPIRIT ON QUALIFYING DAY
20/3/2004 7:52 (Press Release) -
The Orrcon Racing team showed tremendous spirit and determination in the opening day of the 2004 V8 Supercar Championship at the Clipsal 500 around the streets of Adelaide today
The Larkham Motor Sport team had an up and down day with Jason Bargwanna showing great pace while Mark Winterbottom suffered rear end damage during the final practice session.
As Bargwanna exited pit lane for the opening qualifying session Winterbottom strapped himself into his Orrcon Racing Falcon as the team thrashed on the Orrcon Racing Falcon to repair it in time to make the session.
On his first flying lap during his session Bargwanna was slowed by traffic that served to motivate the Orrcon driver.
“The car felt good as soon as I came out the pits and I was on a good lap very early on the session only to be baulked by some slower cars,” said Bargwanna.
“Although it was a little frustrating it certainly motivated me to put my head down and focus on the job at hand.”
It was all the motivation required by the 31-year-old as on the next lap he put in his fastest lap of the weekend elevating him to the top of the qualifying sheets with a 1:22.8081 circulation.
This time was good enough for Bargwanna to be inside the top 10 and on route for a place in the shootout with 4 minutes remaining in the final qualifying session.
Late in the qualifying session Bargwanna’s time was eclipsed by several drivers dropping him to 15th position at the completion of qualifying.
“We made some changes after the practice session that gave us some more speed and most importantly allowed me to get the power to the ground,” said Bargwanna.
“As with the Grand Prix we have continually chipped away at our set up and I think that we will have a good race set up given our improvements throughout the day.”
As Bargwanna was setting the track alight his Orrcon Racing teammate was also strapped in his Falcon as the team worked around him replacing the rear end on his machine.
With the minutes counting down to the end of the session the team came tantalizingly close to the completing the repairs only to fall 5 minutes short of time.
Winterbottom will now make his Championship debut for the team by starting from the rear of the grid for tomorrow’s 250km race.
“In practice we were still chasing a good set up and because of this I was probably over driving the car a little bit,” said Winterbottom.
“I simply went into the corner a little hot and ran wide, on a normal track I probably would have got away with a bit of dirt on the guard but here at Adelaide it’s a concrete wall.
“The guys done a great job to even be as close as they were to get the car repaired and will now go over the car with a fine tooth comb and focus on moving through the field tomorrow.”
Tomorrow’s 78-lap opening race of the 2004 V8 Supercar Championship around the 3.22km Adelaide circuit begins at 2:00pm.
Clipsal 500 Top 10 shootout
1. Greg Murphy 1:22.4672
2. Jason Bright 1:22.9629
3. Russell Ingall 1:23.0463
4. John Bowe 1:23.0659
5. Garth Tander 1:23.1914
6. Max Wilson 1:23.5284
7. Russell Ingall 1:23.6547
8. Steve Ellery 1:23.7380
9. Paul Radisich 1:24.0422
10. Simon Wills 1:28.3956
Qualifying
11. Rick Kelly 1:22.5756
12. Steven Richards 1:22.5822
13. Mark Skaife 1:22.6998
14. Todd Kelly 1:22.7015
15. Jason Bargwanna 1:22.8081
WEEKEND SCHEDULE - ROUND 1, 2004
V8 SUPERCARS
Saturday
11:10am – 11:30am - Warm up
1:30pm – 1:45pm - Cars to grid
2:00pm- 4:15pm - Race 1 - 78 laps
Sunday
10:15am – 10:35am - Warm up
11:15am – 11:25am – Drivers Parade
1:30pm – 1:! 45pm - Cars to grid
2:00pm- 4:15pm - Race 1 - 78 laps
TV TELECAST - NETWORK TEN
Saturday March 20
1pm-5pm
Sunday March 21
1pm-5pm
Release Date: 19/03/2004
Larkham Orrcon Racing
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