CHALLENGES A-PLENTY IN RACE ONE FOR TEAM BETTA ELECTRICAL
20/3/2004 20:51 (Press Release) -
Team Betta Electrical had a terrific start for their 2004 season at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide today.
Max Wilson driving Team Betta Electrical car 888 had some bad luck at the beginning of the race.
“I felt something go wrong in Lap 7 and realised that I had blown the right rear tyre. This was caused by an earlier race incident that left debris on the track. Luckily I was able to nurse the car around the track and managed to avoid any trouble and get it back down pit lane so the team could do a tyre change. I was lucky in one respect, when it happened the tyre change window had just opened and I could take advantage of it.
“The team did a great tyre change and I was able to get back out. Unfortunately it meant I had to re-enter the field at the back of the pack. I was able to use the later safety car period in lap 21 to my advantage and come up a few places”, - said Wilson.
Radisich stayed out on the track to maximise his opportunities. On lap 31 he became the race leader and was demonstrating consistency.
“The car was performing well and our strategy was working to plan, so I was staying out for the longest time possible”. - said Radisich.
At this stage Wilson had managed to make up the lost places caused by the blown tyre and found himself sitting in 7th place on lap 31. Wilson making his second mandatory pit stop on lap 35.
The “Rat” went in for fuel, followed very soon after on lap 38 for the tyre change. This completed the mandatory 2 stops required for this race.
The “Rat” was keeping up a cracking pace, charging through field but unfortunately this luck didn’t last.
On lap 41 he went into a tyre wall a situation created by lack of grip from the new tyres, unfortunately his race was over.
“The age old problem, came out with cold tyres and couldn’t get them heated quickly, the car wouldn’t turn and I hit the tyre barrier, Adelaide hasn’t been good to us recently.
“We started last, in 2003 and managed to come up to fourth. There’s always tomorrow,” - said a philosophical Radisich.
Team Betta Electrical‘s luck was not to last today, after a great start, both cars were out after Wilson retired on Lap 50.
Wilson had been having a good race apart from the blown tyre early on; he had recorded the fastest lap time of the entire race of 1:23.7902. It was eventually the early blown tyre that brought Wilson undone.
“In lap 50 I felt the car drifting across the circuit and because I had to have the fresh tyres so early in the race, the tyres just didn’t have any grip so I couldn’t control the direction of the car.
I glanced the tyre wall and my race for today was over. The car was performing very well and I am really happy with the way the team had prepared it “, said Wilson.
“I am so disappointed that I wasn’t able to finish this race, I just hope we have better luck tomorrow because the cars are certainly good enough to take out races“, - he said.
Release Date: 20/03/2004
Triple Eight Race Engineering
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