Perfect Strategy Sets Up Luff
20/3/2004 20:37 (Press Release) -
The perfect strategy was the reason for the sudden move up the standings of Shell Helix Racing's Warren Luff at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide today.
Luff had come in for fresh tyres on lap 19 but was brought back in a few laps later for fuel while the safety car was on track.
Luff entered the pits in 20th place and within ten laps had risen to fifth. By lap 46 he was leading the race.
"The guys made a brilliant call with our strategy and when to pit," Warren Luff said.
"The result was mainly down to this, we showed that we got it right and most got it wrong.
"Our result shows that pit strategy is so important here at Adelaide."
Within minutes of taking the lead Luff was turned by Jason Bright, who was attempting to overtake.
"Bright obviously had a lot more pace than us, there was no doubt about that, going up to the top section of the track is really single file, if you try to get up the inside it really leads to disaster and that's obviously what happened," Luff said.
"I was planning on letting him (Bright) pass on the back straight, cause he was clearly faster, I was not going to be an idiot and hold him out, we'd gone so well to get to that point and I wasn't going to mess it up.
"It was a bit of an over exuberant move on his part and we both paid the price, obviously him more than we did.
"But I think that had it not happened I could have finished sixth or seventh and not eleventh."
On the flip side, Steve Johnson was the innocent victim of a stray Todd Kelly chassis part, which got lodged into his Ford's front right wheel.
"When Todd Kelly crashed I hit whatever debris came off his car and it felt like it hit the upright or the steering arm of my car, but there was a major clunk and the steering wheel shifted in my hands," Steven Johnson said.
"It was just one of those things, there was no real way of avoiding it, it was just unlucky."
The front wheel was stuck and couldn't be moved taking the team several laps to fix.
"Something has hit the wheel and the front steering, there was definitely something wrong as Steve was complaining about vibration," Team Manager Dean Orr said.
"When Steve came in the brake duct was damaged, so was the spindle and also the wheel clip meaning we couldn't budge the wheel, so we had to try and cut it to get the wheel off.
"In the end we needed to replace the upright and do it quickly so that Steve could complete seventy-five percent of the race laps and finish."
Steve Johnson was full of praise for his team for keeping calm during the situation, and despite the mishap was happy with his car.
"The boys were franticly trying to repair the wheel, and then they had to bring me into the garage so Luffy could pit for fuel, but they kept their focus," Johnson said.
"To replace the upright and get me out in time to be able to finish the race was very impressive, they did a great job.
"But we were competitive, I think I recorded the sixth fastest time and my tyres were good, even after sixty laps.
"The car was fast, I was really competitive early, I was passing cars and I was happy with the speed.
"We can still change a few things tonight and I think that we'll be even better tomorrow."
The second 250 kilometre race of the Clipsal 500 starts at 2pm tomorrow (Adelaide time), 2.30pm (AEST)
Release Date: 20/03/2004
Shell Helix Racing
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